UC-NRLF 


INDIAN 
CHIEF 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


GIFT  OF 

Roy  Nash 


THE 


INDIAN   CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 


BY 
REV.  S.  H.  MITCHELL 


Know  how  sublime  a  thing  it  is 
To  suffer  and  be  strong 

Longfellow 


PHILADELPHIA 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST   PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 

1420  Chestnut  Street 

I89S 


Copyright  1895  by  the 
AMERICAN  BAPTIST  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 


GIFT 


E-90 


PREFACE 


THE  following  brief  narrative  is  sent  forth,  not  as  a 
contribution  to  the  literature  of  the  Indian  problem,  but 
as  a  tribute  to  the  life  and  character  of  the  Christian 
chieftain  whose  memory  it  seeks  to  perpetuate. 

When  the  author  first  entered  the  home  of  Mr.  Journey- 
cake  to  become  acting  pastor  of  the  Delaware  Church, 
and  made  a  study  of  the  situation,  it  was  apparent  at  a 
glance  that  if  he  would  do  his  people  good  he  must  stand 
in  friendly  relations  with  the  senior  pastor.  By  divine 
favor  our  intercourse  at  once,  without  any  compromise  of 
ministerial  prerogative,  became  most  intimate,  fraternal, 
and  confidential.  Our  views  were  largely  akin,  and  we 
had  a  common  purpose. 

Mr.  Journey  cake  was  a  man  of  uncommon  deliberate- 
ness,  especially  in  conversation.  You  would  ask  him  a 
question,  and  he  would  be  so  long  before  replying  that 
you  would  be  led  to  think  he  had  given  it  no  attention. 
This  peculiarity  was  quickly  learned,  and  also  that  it 
paid  to  wait. 

After  a  period  of  some  months,  the  secretary  of  the 
American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society  sought  to  pro 
cure  a  biographical  sketch  of  Father  Journeycake  for  a 
special  '•  Indian  number  "  of  the  Home  Mission  Monthly. 
But  how  should  I  obtain  the  facts — the  suitable  data  for 

039 


4  PREFACE 

such  a  sketch?  They  must  be  obtained  from  him  in  his 
own  peculiar  way  of  giving.  The  communication  of  the 
secretary  was  made  known  to  him,  and  he  seemed  rather 
pleased.  But  the  method  of  obtaining  the  information 
was  not  clear.  It  could  only  be  gotten  in  his  own  time 
and  way.  He  was  remarkably  free  from  any  appearance 
of  seeking  notoriety,  and  yet  seemed  conscious  that  there 
was  much  in  his  life  experience  that  ought  to  be  known. 
Slowly  there  was  obtained  from  him  the  material  for  the 
desired  sketch,  but  the  process  did  not  stop  here.  We 
had  been  brought  into  very  close  and  sympathetic  rela 
tions  with  each  other.  In  his  peculiar  way  he  put  me 
in  possession  of  the  many  incidents  in  his  life,  and  in 
that  of  his  people,  which  form  the  basis  of  this  memoir. 

There  was  no  intimation  from  him  of  any  desire  for 
their  publication,  and  yet  in  indescribable  ways  he  im 
pressed  me  that  this  would  be  his  wish.  He  gave  me  his 
confidence  in  a  way  altogether  unusual  for  him  outside 
of  his  own  family,  and  it  has  been  regarded  as  a  sacred 
trust.  How  the  obligations  of  that  trust  have  been  met 
the  pages  following  must  disclose. 

The  members  of  Mr.  Journey  cake's  family  fully  recog 
nized  the  affectionate  and  sympathetic  relations  above 
described,  during  the  last  years  of  their  father's  life,  and 
after  his  death  united  in  the  expression  of  their  convic 
tion  that  the  writer  was  the  proper  person  to  prepare  the 
memoir  that  they  wished  to  perpetuate  his  memory.  That 
the  Lord  may  use  it  in  some  small  measure  to  accomplish 
his  will  is  the  author's  earnest  wish. 

S.  H.  M. 
CKESCO,  IOWA,  Nov.,  1895. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 
PRELIMINARY,      7 

CHAPTER  II 
TREATIES  WITH  THE  DELAWARES, 10 

CHAPTER  III 
RELIGIOUS  CONDITION  OP  THE  DELAWARES, 17 

CHAPTER  IV 
ANCESTRY  AND  CHILDHOOD, -20 

CHAPTER  V 
CONVERSION  AND  EARLY  CHRISTIAN  LIFE, 28 

CHAPTER  VI 
MARRIAGE  AND  FAMILY  LIFE, 32 

CHAPTER  VII 
PREPARATIONS  FOR  ANOTHER  REMOVAL, 39 

CHAPTER  VIII 
MADE  CHIEF, 45 

CHAPTER  IX 
REMOVAL  AND  ITS  TRIALS,       CO 

CHAPTER  X 
DEDICATION  AND  ORDINATION, 54 

CHAPTER  XI 

PHENOMENAL  GROWTH, 60 

5 


6  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  XII 
PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  LIFE, 65 

CHAPTEE  XIII 
OLD  AGE  AND  CHANGED  CONDITIONS, 71 

CHAPTER  XIV 

ANOTHER  TESTIMONIAL, 77 

CHAPTER  XV 
LAST  DAYS, 86 

CHAPTER  XVI 
LIVING  LINKS, 89 


CHAPTER  XVII 
PRESENT  NEEDS  OF  THE  INDIANS, 99 


THE  INDIAN  CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 


CHAPTER  I 

PRELIMINARY 

Rev.  Charles  Journeycalce.  Born  December  16,  1817.  Died 
January  3,  1894.. 

A  kind  and  loving  father  and  a  friend  to  the  needy ;  he 
died  as  he  lived,  a  pure  and  upright  man,  after  many  years1 
faithful  service  in  the  ministry  and  as  chief  adviser  for  his 
people,  the  Delawares. 

Jane  Sosha  Journeycake.  Born  February,  1821.  Died 
January  13,  1893. 

"  None  knew  her  but  to  love  her." 

SUCH  is,  in  part,  the  simple  and  truthful  inscription 
upon  the  monument  that  marks  the  grave  of  this  excellent 
man  and  his  equally  excellent  wife.  The  monument  is 
of  white  marble — a  beautiful  double  shaft,  rising  from  the 
head  of  the  grave,  curving  and  uniting  in  one  central  col 
umn.  Beautiful  symbol  of  the  two  lives  uniting  in  one, 
and  for  more  than  half  a  century  witnessing  to  the  power 
of  a  Christian  civilization  to  mold  and  to  control  in  a 
most  noble  family  life  even  the  native  children  of  our 
primeval  forests. 

Being  the  last  chief  of  his  tribe,  and  since  the  surren- 

7 


THE    INDIAN   CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

der  of  their  tribal  government  until  his  death,  their  chief 
counselor  in  all  their  affairs,  it  will  be  necessary  to  give 
some  account  of  the  Delaware  Indians  through  the  times 
leading  up  to  that  portion  of  their  history  in  which  Chief 
Journeycake  has  constituted  so  important  a  factor. 

In  an  estimated  Indian  population  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-nine  thousand  east  of  the  Mississippi  a  hundred 
years  ago,  the  great  Algonquin  group  numbered  ninety 
thousand.  Of  this  group  the  Delawares  claimed  to  be 
the  parent  stock,  and  the  claim  seems  to  have  been  con 
ceded  by  the  related  tribes.  They  were  called  Lenni 
Lenape,  or  original  people.  They  occupied  the  territory 
on  the  eastern  coast  from  the  mouth  of  the  Potomac  to 
and  beyond  the  Hudson  and  stretching  far  back  into  the 
interior.  It  is  said  that  when  Hudson  anchored  his  first 
ship  off  New  York  Island,  in  1609,  the  Delawares  stood 
in  great  numbers  on  the  shore  to  receive  him,  exclaim 
ing  in  their  innocence,  "  Behold,  the  gods  have  come  to 
visit  us." 

They  had  a  tradition  that  many  hundreds  of  years  ago 
they  lived  away  toward  the  setting  sun,  and  that,  emi 
grating  to  the  eastward,  they  had,  on  crossing  the  Missis 
sippi,  encountered  and  destroyed  a  mighty  nation  possess 
ing  many  large  towns.  These  the  Lenni  Lenape  drove 
down  the  Mississippi,  taking  possession  of  their  land  and 
finally  settling  along  the  Delaware  River  and  the  eastern 
coast.  There  was  also  a  tradition  that  another  tribe  had 
followed  them  from  the  far  West,  from  which  descended 
the  Iroquois,  the  powerful  enemies  of  the  Delawares. 


PRELIMINARY 

It  is  further  said,  that  in  the  wars  with  the  Iroqucis,  the 
latter,  finding  themselves  hard  pressed  by  the  French 
settlers  of  Canada  on  the  one  side  and  the  Delawares  on 
the  other,  devised  the  plan  of  relieving  themselves  by 
persuading  the  Delawares  to  lay  down  their  arms  and 
become  mediators  between  the  warring  factions.  This 
the  Delawares  consented  to  do,  and  thus  ceasing  to  be 
warriors,  the  Iroquois  turned  and  heaped  reproaches 
upon  them,  calling  them  "  women." 

This  tradition  of  their  having  for  a  time  laid  down 
their  arms,  would  seem  to  account  for  the  fact  that  the 
Delawares,  when  first  met  by  the  whites,  were  the  most 
docile  and  friendly  of  Indians,  though  afterward,  when 
provoked  to  take  up  arms  again,  they  became  most 
formidable  warriors. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  these  traditions,  it  is  cer 
tain  that  the  Delawares  were  leaders  among  the  Indian 
tribes  with  which  our  government  had  to  deal  in  getting 
possession  of  lands  from  Pennsylvania  westward  to  the 
Mississippi,  and  the  salient  facts  of  our  dealings  with 
them  are  vital  to  a  right  apprehension  of  the  history  it 
is  proposed  to  sketch. 


CHAPTER  II 


WHEN  the  name  "  Delawares  "  was  first  given  to  this 
people  by  the  whites,  they  rather  resented  it,  but  when 
told  that  they  and  one  of  the  principal  rivers  were  named 
after  a  great  English  brave,  Lord  De  La  Warre,  they 
willingly  took  the  name.  It  is  well  known,  that  whenWil- 
liam  Penn  negotiated  for  Pennsylvania,  it  was  from  the 
Delaware  chiefs  that  he  made  the  purchase.  Chief  Jour- 
neycake  possessed  a  perfect  facsimile  of  the  wampum 
belt  that  was  presented  by  the  chiefs  of  the  Delawares  to 
Penn  in  confirmation  of  the  bargain.  "  The  first  treaty 
of  the  United  States  with  the  Delawares  was  made  in 
1778  at  Ft.  Pitt.  The  parties  to  it  were  said  to  be  '  The 
United  States  and  the  Delaware  Nation.'  "  It  was  stipu 
lated  in  this  treaty  that  the  United  States  should  guaran 
tee  to  the  Delawares  and  their  heirs  "  all  their  territorial 
rights  in  the  fullest  and  most  ample  manner  as  bounded 
by  former  treaties,"  and  also  that 

Should  it  for  the  future  be  found  conducive  for  the 
mutual  interest  of  both  parties  to  invite  any  other  tribes 

1  For  the  facts  sketched  in  this  chapter  I  am  chiefly  indebted 
to  "A  Century  of  Dishonor,"  written  by  Helen  Hunt  Jackson, 
"A  Sketch  of  the  United  States  Government's  Dealings  with 
some  of  the  Indian  Tribes,"  and  seemingly  taken  from  official 
records. 
10 


TREATIES    WITH    THE    DELA WARES  1  1 

who  have  been  friendly  to  the  United  States  to  join  the 
present  confederation  and  form  a  State,  whereof  the  Dela 
ware  Nation  shall  be  the  head,  it  shall  be  done,  and 
the  Delawares  shall  be  entitled  to  send  a  representative 
to  Congress. 

This  was  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and  the 
treaty  was  made,  of  course,  with  such  of  the  tribes  as 
were  friendly  to  the  United  States.  At  the  same  time 
"  the  rest  of  the  Ohio  tribes,  most  of  the  New  York 
tribes,  and  a  large  part  of  the  Delawares  were  in  arms 
on  the  British  side."  At  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Rev 
olution  the  United  States  in  its  first  treaty  with  the 
Indians  made  provision  that  the  Delaware  chiefs  and 
head  men,  who  had  made  the  former  alliance  with  us, 
should  be  reinstated  in  the  Delaware  Nation.  Among 
the  chiefs  who  had  fought  on  the  side  of  the  United 
States  and  who  were  now  restored  to  all  the  privileges  of 
the  Delaware  Nation  was  Colonel  Henry  Kilbuck,1  of 
whom  an  interesting  reminiscence  will  appear  in  a  subse 
quent  part  of  this  book.  This  first  treaty  after  the  close 
of  the  war  was  made  in  1785,  and  was  participated  in  by 
the  "  Delawares,  Wyandottes,  Chippewas,  and  Ottawas." 
By  it  certain  lands  were  confirmed  to  the  United  States, 
and  the  remainder  to  the  Indians.  The  States  of  "  Mich 
igan,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Pennsylvania,"  are  largely 
made  up  of  lands  that  were  by  this  treaty,  "in  1785,'' 
given  to  the  Indians.  The  reader  is  asked  to  bear  in 
mind,  that  the  facts  here  referred  to,  in  the  most  con- 
1  See  Chapter  XVI.,  Supplementary. 


THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

densed  manner  possible,  are  necessary  to  any  proper  un- 
derstaDding  of  the  history  of  the  Delaware  people  and 
their  last  chief,  with  whose  biography  this  work  is  con 
cerned. 

During  the  troublous  times  that  followed  the  forma 
tion  of  our  government  the  Delawares  at  first  were  our 
friends,  and  have  the  credit  of  faithfully  observing  the 
treaties  made  with  them.     In  1791  the  Secretary  of  War, 
in  sending  commissioners  to  treat  with  the  Miami  and 
Wabash  Indians,  recommended  them  to  confer  on  the 
way  with  the  friendly  Delawares  and  take  some  of  their 
leading  chiefs  with  them  as  allies,  saying,  "  These  tribes 
are  our  friends,  and  as  far  as  is  known  the  treaties  have 
been  well  observed  by  them."     But  about  this  time  the 
Delaware  leaders  became  possessed  of  the  idea  that  the 
United  States  government  was  not  acting  in  good  faith 
with  them,  but  was  seeking  to  dispossess  them  of  their 
lands  by  unfair  means,  and  they  are  mentioned  among 
the  hostile  tribes.     In  1792,  in  a  message  sent  from  the 
government,  was  found  this  paragraph  :  "  Remember  that 
no  additional  lands  will  be  required  of  you  or  any  other 
tribe  to  those  that  have  been  ceded  by  former  treaties," 
This  was  in  an  appeal  for  a  peaceable  settlement  of  differ 
ences  growing  out  of  the  boundary  question,  in  which 
the  message  says : 

• 

Brethren  !  The  President  of  the  United  States  enter 
tains  the  opinion  that  the  war  which  exists  is  an  error 
and  a  mistake  on  your  part.  That  you  believe  the  United 
States  wants  to  deprive  you  of  your  lands  and  drive  you 


TEE  ATI  ES    WITH    THE    DEL  A  WARES  13 

out  of  the  country.  Be  assured  that  this  is  not  so.  On 
the  contrary,  that  we  should  be  greatly  gratified  with 
the  opportunity  of  imparting  to  you  all  the  blessings  of 
civilized  life,  of  teaching  you  to  cultivate  the  earth  and 
raise  corn ;  to  raise  oxen,  sheep,  and  other  domestic  ani 
mals  ;  to  build  comfortable  houses,  and  to  educate  your 
children  so  as  ever  to  dwell  upon  the  land. 

In  1793  another  great  council  was  held,  to  which 
came  the  chiefs  and  head  men  of  the  Delawares  and  of 
twelve  other  tribes,  to  meet  commissioners  of  the  United 
States  for  one  last  effort  to  settle  the  vexed  boundary 
question.  The  records  of  this  council  are  profoundly 
touching.  The  Indians  reiterated  over  and  over  the  pro 
visions  of  the  old  treaties,  which  had  established  the  Ohio 
River  as  one  of  their  boundaries.  Their  words  were  not 
the  words  of  the  ignorant,  clumsily  and  doggedly  hold 
ing  to  a  point ;  they  were  the  words  of  clear-headed, 
statesmanlike  rulers,  insisting  on  the  rights  of  their 
nations.  As  days  went  on,  and  it  became  more  and  more 
clear  that  the  United  States  commissioners  would  not 
agree  to  the  establishment  of  the  boundary  for  which  the 
Indians  contended,  the  speeches  of  the  chiefs  grew  sadder 
and  sadder.  .  .  Finally,  in  desperation,  as  a  last  hope, 
they  propose  to  the  commissioners  that  all  the  money 
which  the  United  States  offers  to  pay  them  for  their 
lands  shall  be  given  to  the  white  settlers  to  induce  them 
to  move  away.  They  say,  Money  to  us  is  of  no  value,  and 
to  most  of  us  unknown  ;  and  as  no  consideration  whatever 
can  induce  us  to  sell  the  lands  on  which  we  get  sustenance 
for  our  women  and  children,  we  hope  we  may  be  allowed 
to  point  out  a  mode  by  which  your  settlers  may  be  easily 
removed,  and  peace  thereby  obtained.1 
* 

Let  the  reader  call  to  mind  that  this  was  but  a  hundred 
and  two  years  ago,  that  the  words  quoted  above  are  those 

1  "A  Century  of  Dishonor,"  pages  41,  42. 


14  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

of  the  chiefs  and  head  men  of  a  number  of  tribes  of  In 
dians,  the  leading  tribe  being  the  Delawares,  pleading 
for  the  peaceable  settlement  of  questions  concerning  the 
ownership  and  possession  of  that  belt  of  country  in  the 
very  center  of  the  great  Mississippi  Valley,  north  of  the 
Ohio  River  and  stretching  westward  from  Pennsylvania, 
now  comprising  the  great  central  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Michigan,  and  Illinois,  and  it  will  be  seen  at  once  how 
vital  to  a  proper  understanding  of  the  history  of  the  last 
Delaware  chief  and  of  the  remnant  of  that  noble  race 
yet  living,  are  the  facts  recorded  in  this  chapter. 

The  arguments  used  by  their  chiefs  for  the  mode  of 
settlement  proposed  by  them  are  cogent,  and  doubtless  to 
them  seemed  convincing,  whatever  view  might  be  taken  by 
the  commissioners  of  the  United  States.  The  settlers  north 
of  the  Ohio  were  poor  people,  or  they  never  would  have 
consented  to  live  in  a  country  beset  by  so  many  dangers 
and  in  the  midst  of  so  much  suffering.  The  government 
was  offering  to  the  Indians  a  very  large  sum  of  money 
for  the  relinquishment  of  the  lands  these  poor  settlers 
occupied,  and  another  considerable  sum  to  each  separate 
tribe,  annually  in  perpetuity. 

"Now,"  say  those  chiefs,  "divide  this  large  sum  of 
money  which  you  have  offered  us  among  these  people ; 
give  to  each,  also,  a  proportion  of  what  you  say  you  would 
give  to  us  annually,  ...  and  we  are  persuaded  they  would 
most  readily  accept  it  in  lieu  of  the  lands  you  sold  them," 
adding,  "  If  vou  add,  also,  the  great  sums  you  nrist  ex 
pend  in  raising  and  paying  armies  with  a  view  to  force 
us  to  yield  you  our  country,  you  will  certainly  have  more 


TREATIES    WITH    THE    DELA  WARES  15 

than  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  repaying  these  settlers 
for  all  their  labor  and  their  improvements." 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  speak  particularly  of  the  in 
justice  done  by  the  United  States  in  failing  to  carry  out 
the  provisions  of  treaties.  One  or  two  further  extracts 
will  show  how  little  either  party  could  understand  at  the 
time  the  exigencies  that  must  soon  arise  in  the  develop 
ments  of  history  to  make  the  strict  observance  of  the 
provisions  of  these  treaties  impossible. 

For  instance,  in  a  treaty  made  in  1795  with  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  Delawares  and  eleven  other  tribes,  the 
United  States  delivered  to  be  distributed  among  these 
tribes  the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  serviceable 
goods,  and  solemnly  covenanted,  "  henceforward  every 
year,  forever,  to  deliver  at  some  convenient  place,  north 
ward  of  the  river  Ohio,  like  useful  goods,  suited  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  Indians,"  to  the  amount  of  nine 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars  more.  "  Every  year  for 
ever,"  as  if  the  conditions  then  existing  were  to  continue 
through  the  ages.  And  in  the  Indians'  appeal  for  a  settle 
ment  in  1793,  before  quoted,  they  close  by  saying: 

We  desire  you  to  consider,  brothers,  that  our  only  de 
mand  is  the  peaceable  possession  of  a  small  part  of  our 
once  great  country.  Look  back  and  review  the  lands 
from  whence  we  have  been  driven  to  this  spot.  We  can 
retreat  no  farther,  because  the  country  behind  hardly  af 
fords  food  for  its  inhabitants  ;  and  we  have  therefore  re 
solved  to  leave  our  bones  in  this  small  space  to  which  we 
are  confined.1 

1  "  Border  Wars  of  two  Centuries,"  page  234. 


16  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURXEYCAKE 

To  prevent  any  misunderstanding  about  the  meaning 
of  the  treaties  in  the  relinquishment  of  their  lands  by  the 
Indians,  it  was  explicitly  declared  that — 

The  Indian  tribes  who  have  a  right  to  these  lands,  are 
quietly  to  enjoy  them,  hunting,  planting,  and  dwelling 
thereon,  so  long  as  they  please,  without  "any  molestation 
from  the  United  States ;  but  when  those  tribes,  or  any  of 
them,  shall  be  disposed  to  sell  their  lands,  or  any  part  of 
them,  they  are  to  be  sold  only  to  the  United  States ;  and 
until  such  sale  the  United  States  will  protect  all  the  said 
Indian  tribes,  in  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  their  lands, 
against  all  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  against  all 
other  white  persons  who  intrude  upon  the  same.  • 

In  other  words,  they  were  not  selling  their  lands  at  that 
time,  in  fact,  but  only  binding  themselves  not  to  sell  to 
anybody  else  when  they  might  be  disposed  to  part  with 
them.  The  above  was  the  situation  of  the  Delawares  up 
to  within  a  few  years  before  the  time  that  Chief  Journey- 
cake  was  born. 


CHAPTER  III 

RELIGIOUS   CONDITION   OF   THE    DELA  WARES 

IN  the  eighteenth  century  the  Moravians  established 
missions  among  the  Delaware  Indians  and  met  with  a 
good  degree  of  success.  "  Settlements  of  Moravian 
converts  were  made  in  1741  at  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth 
in  Pennsylvania."  These  Christian  Indians,  though  con 
tinuing  peaceful  and  friendly  to  the  whites,  "  were  sub 
jected  to  brutal  outrages  from  lawless  settlers  during  the 
exasperation  of  the  French  and  Indian  wars." 

The  settlers,  driven  to  desperation  by  the  dangers  and 
troubles  that  environed  them,  were  led  somehow  to 
suspect  the  Christian  Delawares  and  others,  and  to  charge 
them  with  many  of  the  outrages  from  which  they  suffered. 
With  monstrous  cruelty  and  indiscriminating  rage  they 
wreaked  vengeance  upon  the  unoffending  converts.  A 
single  quotation  will  show  the  spirit  by  which  they  were 
impelled  :  "  On  the  borders  of  Pennsylvania  the  settlers 
were  now  fighting  the  Indians  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
Quakers  on  the  other."  They  declared  that  the  Quakers 
would  "go  farther  to  befriend  a  murdering  Delaware 
than  to  protect  the  border." l  Thus  the  very  peaceful 
and  unwarlike  disposition  of  the  Christian  Indians  made 
them  objects  of  jealous  suspicion  to  the  enraged  settlers, 

1  "Border  Wars  of  Two  Centuries,"  p.  129. 

B  17 


18  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOUKNEYCAKE 

and  the  terrible  outrages  they  were  subjected  to  forms  one 
of  the  dark  chapters  in  the  history  of  the  treatment  they 
generally  received  at  the  hands  of  the  whites. 

The  pressure  upon  the  Dela wares  caused  their  general 
migration  westward,  so  that  "  by  1768  they  had  all 
removed  to  the  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  The  Moravian 
missionaries  emigrated  to  Ohio  with  their  flocks,  where 
the  number  of  Christians  increased." 

When  the  first  treaty  with  the  Delawares  was  made  in 
1778  "the  Christian  Indians  had  three  towns  on  the 
Muskingum,  the  principal  Delaware  town  being  at 
Gnadenhiitten."  These  remaining  peaceful  and  friendly 
to  the  colonists  during  the  Revolution,  "  the  hostile 
Indians,  angry  at  the  neutrality  of  the  Christians,  seized 
them  and  removed  them  to  Sandusky,  Ohio."  This  was  in 
1781,  and  here  we  still  find  the  Delawares  at  the  time  of 
the  birth  of  Chief  Journeycake. 

Growing  short  of  provisions,  after  their  removal,  a 
party  of  the  Indians  returned  to  their  former  settlement 
on  the  Muskingum  to  save  some  of  the  crops  from  which 
they  were  driven.  "  The  settlers,  hearing  of  their  reap 
pearance,  attacked  them,  and,  though  they  made  no 
resistance,  ninety  of  them  were  brutally  massacred.  This 
threw  the  Christian  Indians  into  despair ;  most  of  them 
removed  to  Canada,  where  their  descendants  still  re 
main."  l 

It  is  not  surprising  that  these  outrages,  associated  in 

1  "Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  American  Supplement.  Vol.  II., 
p.  59a 


RELIGIOUS    CONDITION    OF    THE     DELA WARES    19 

the  minds  of  the  still  savage  Indians  with  the  missions 
referred  to,  so  prejudiced  them  against  the  very  name  of 
Christian  missions  that  it  was  many  years  after  their  set 
tlement  atSandusky  before  the  Delawares  would  permit  a 
missionary  to  labor  among  them.  The  same  conditions 
have  substantially  obtained  elsewhere.  While  progress 
has  been  made,  and  evidences  of  the  power  of  the  gospel 
over  the  savage  mind  have  not  been  wanting,  yet  the  in 
fluence  of  the  general  treatment  of  the  Indians  by  the 
whites  has  been  so  unfavorable,  and  removals  from  the 
area  of  partial  success  have  been  so  frequent,  and  often  so 
cruel,  that  anything  like  permanent  success  has  been  an 
impossibility. 

Later  on  we  shall  see  how,  under  changed  and  more 
favorable  conditions,  more  encouraging  results  were 
achieved. 


CHAPTER  IV 

ANCESTRY    AND    CHILDHOOD 

IN  the  Delaware  settlement,  on  the  upper  Sandusky, 
lived  an  Indian  who  had  traded  much  with  the  white 
people,  and  who  married  a  white  woman  by  the  name  of 
Castlemau.  A  daughter  of  this  union  grew  up  to  be 
intelligent,  to  speak  the  English  language  and  several 
Indian  dialects,  and  to  become  an  expert  interpreter. 
She  was  married  to  a  full-blooded  Indian,  named  Journey- 
cake,  and  from  this  union  was  born,  December  16,  1817, 
Charles  Journeycake,  the  subject  of  this  memoir.  Sally 
Journeycake,  the  mother,  was  born  about  1797,  and  died 
in  the  Indian  Territory,  February  6,  1873.  In  her  his 
tory,  and  that  of  her  more  famous  son  and  his  descend 
ants,  we  have  such  an  illustration  of  the  methods  and 
power  of  the  gospel  in  regenerating  and  elevating  the 
Indian  races  as  is  worthy  of  the  widest  attention. 

It  has  been  mentioned  in  a  previous  chapter  that, 
owing  to  the  outrages  inflicted  upon  the  Christian  Dela- 
wares  by  the  border  settlers,  notably  in  1763  and  1782 
when  most  of  them  were  killed  and  the  remainder  driven 
to  Canada,  the  unconverted  Indians  who  remained  in  the 
Sandusky  settlements  became  very  hostile  to  Christian 
missions.  It  appears  that  at  the  first  quarter  of  the 
present  century  there  was  not  a  Christian  Delaware  in 
20 


ANCESTRY   AND   CHILDHOOD  21 

the  settlement.  Two  or  three  attempts  had  been  made 
to  organize  missions,  but  the  head  men  of  the  Delawares 
rejected  all  overtures.  At  length  a  Methodist  mission 
was  started  among  the  Wyaudottes,  on  their  reservation 
adjacent  to  the  Delawares,  and  Mrs.  Sally  Journey  cake 
was  their  interpreter.  An  invitation  was  finally  extended 
to  these  missionaries  to  visit  Mr.  Journeycake's  house 
and  preach,  which  invitation  was  occasionally  accepted. 
In  interpreting  for  the  missionaries,  Mrs.  Journeycake 
learned  some  passages  of  Scripture  and  some  verses  of 
Christian  hymns.  Of  the  results  of  this  we  shall  learn 
later. 

In  the  year  1817  "  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  make  an 
effort  to  'extinguish  the  Indian  title  to  all  the  lands 
claimed  by  them  within  the  limits  of  the  State  of  Ohio.'  " 
To  this  end  "two  commissioners  were  appointed  with 
great  discretionary  powers,  and  a  treaty  was  concluded 
early  in  the  autumn,  by  which  was  ceded  to  the 
United  States  nearly  all  the  land  to  which  the  Indians 
had  claim  in  Ohio,  a  part  of  Indiana,  and  a  part  of 
Michigan." 

In  1818,  during  the  first  year  of  Chief  Journeycake's 
infancy,  another  treaty  ceded  all  the  lands  which  the 
Indians  claimed  in  Indiana,  and  "the  United  States 
promised  to  provide  for  them  '  a  country  to  reside  in  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi,'  and  'to  guarantee  to 
them  the  peaceable  possession'  of  the  same."  By  the 
agreement  of  1818  the  Indians  were  allowed  to  remain 
three  years  longer  on  their  lands,  and  the  government 


22  THE   INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

agreed  "to  give  them  one  hundred  and  twenty  horses, 
and  a  sufficient  number  of  pirogues  to  aid  in  transporting 
them  to  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi,"  and  also  provi 
sions  for  the  journey.  It  appears,  however,  that  the  delay 
of  three  years  allowed  for  their  removal  was  prolonged 
t<i  ten  years,  for  in  1827  we  find  them  still  in  Ohio,  but 
making  preparation  for  their  removal  to  the  West.  At 
this  time  a  fatal  disease  broke  out  among  their  horses, 
and  all  died  except  two,  belonging  to  Mr.  Journeycake. 
These  fled,  and  it  was  believed  by  the  people  that  an 
instinct  for  their  own  safety  prompted  their  flight  to  a 
distant  spot,  where  afterward  they  were  found.  This 
incident  was  cherished  among  them  in  after  years  as  an 
intervention  of  Divine  Providence  in  their  behalf,  and 
when  we  view  the  consequences  of  this  delay  to  the 
Journeycake  family,  as  shown  by  what  followed,  who  shall 
say  that  they  were  wrong  ? 

The  tribe  was  now  in  great  straits.  Unable  to  proceed, 
the  provisions  that  the  government  was  to  furnish  for 
their  journey  would  either  not  be  forthcoming,  or  being 
furnished  would  soon  be  exhausted.  Late  in  1827  Mr. 
Journeycake  took  his  family  some  fifty  miles  west  to 
spend  the  winter  with  the  Shawnees,  and  still  later  pene 
trated  twenty  miles  farther  into  the  dense  forest  for  a 
winter's  hunt.  While  in  this  winter  retreat  his  wife, 
Mrs.  Sally  Journeycake,  the  interpreter,  was  taken 
violently  ill.  The  husband  went  seventy  miles  seeking 
help  for  her,  and  while  he  was  absent  she  fell  into  a  sort 
of  swoon  or  trance  state,  and  was  supposed  to  be  dying 


ANCESTRY   AND   CHILDHOOD  23 

or  dead.  After  being  many  hours  in  that  state  she 
awoke,  and  at  once  began  praising  God.  The  knowledge 
she  had  obtained  while  interpreting  for  the  missionaries, 
and  the  Christian  hymns  and  portions  of  Bible  truth  had 
proven  in  her  soul  the  good  seed  of  the  kingdom,  and 
from  that  time  she  was  an  earnest  and  devoted  Christian 
— the  first  Christian  among  the  Delawares  of  the  present 
century.  Following  the  example  of  the  Christian  mis 
sionaries  from  whom  she  had  learned  the  precious  truth, 
she  adopted  at  once  Christian  customs  of  family  life,  and 
observed  stated  times  of  family  devotion. 

The  son,  Charles,  was  now  ten  years  old.  In  1828  the 
long,  slow  march  began  from  the  Sandusky  settlement 
to  the  new  reservation,  away  to  the  west  bank  of  the 
Missouri  River.  Can  any  one  imagine  the  emotions  with 
which  they  set  out  on  this  long  and  tedious  journey? 
Were  their  strong  and  tender  ties  of  attachment  to  be 
sundered? — ties  of  association  binding  them  to  the 
woods,  the  lakes,  the  hills  and  valleys,  the  streams  and 
fields,  the  hunting  grounds  and  the  burying  grounds, 
among  which  they  had  hoped  for  a  permanent  home.  He 
knows  little  of  the  common  bond  of  human  brother 
hood  who  can  doubt  that  there  were  heartburnings  at 
this  setting  out  to  leave  all  these  associations  behind. 

But  to  one  of  this  caravan  of  wayfarers  especially  this 
journey  must  have  had  peculiar  significance.  Sally 
Journeycake  alone  of  all  that  company  of  dusky  exiles 
knew  what  it  was  to  trust  in  the  Christian's  God. 
Around  the  campfires  the  Indians  would  dance  their  war 


24  THE   INDIAN   CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

dances  or  engage  in  the  wild  orgies  of  their  native  lift1, 
but  she  alone  stood  aloof  from  all  their  revelries.  She 
commanded  the  respect  of  all  by  her  consideration  and 
great  kindness.  She  maintained  her  Christian  demeanor, 
gathering  her  little  family  in  her  tent  and  seeking  the  Di 
vine  blessing  upon  them.  What  strange  and  conflicting 
emotions  must  have  been  hers !  What  longing  for  Chris 
tian  companionship !  What  a  test  of  her  simple  faith  ! 
One  thing  must  have  cheered  her  and  proved  an  inspira 
tion.  Her  mother-eye  could  not  fail  to  see  that  her  son 
Charles  was  deeply  impressed  by  her  Christian  deport 
ment  and  ardent  hopes  were  inspired  in  her  heart.  It 
was  his  delight  in  after  years  to  make  loving  mention  of 
impressions  made  upon  his  mind  by  these  scenes  and  to 
bear  testimony  to  their  influence  on  his  life. 

This  journey  to  the  West  seems  to  have  taken  about  a 
year.  There  was  a  tarrying  of  a  part,  if  not  all,  of  the 
band  for  a  short  time  in  Indiana,  on  White  River,  and 
another  stop,  and  probably  an  encampment  for  the  winter, 
in  Southwest  Missouri.  So  that  the  Delawares  arrived  at 
their  Kansas  destination  in  the  spring  of  1829. 

By  the  treaty  of  1818  they  had  ceded  all  their  lands 
in  Ohio  and  Indiana  to  the  United  States,  and  in  it  the 
government  had  agreed  "  to  provide  for  them  a  country 
to  reside  in  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi,"  and  "  to 
guarantee  to  them  the  peaceable  possession  of  the  same." 

This  agreement  seems  to  have  been  lacking  in  some  of 
the  specific  details.  A  supplementary  article  was  added 
to  it  about  this  time,  in  which  it  is  said : 


Mis.  Sally  Journeycake— Mother  of  the  Chief. 
Page  24. 


ANCESTRY   AND   CHILDHOOD  25 

Whereas,  The  Delaware  Nation  are  now  willing  to  re 
move,  it  is  agreed  upon  that  the  country  in  the  fork  of 
the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Rivers,  selected  for  their  home, 
shall  be  conveyed  and  forever  secured  by  the  United 
States  to  the  said  Delaware  Nation,  as  their  permanent 
residence,  and  the  United  States  hereby  pledges  the  faith 
of  the  government  to  guarantee  to  said.  Delaware 
Nation  forever  the  quiet  and  peaceable  and  undisturbed 
enjoyment  of  the  same  against  the  claims  and  assaults  of 
all  and  every  other  people  whatever,  i 

In  addition  there  was  promised,  besides  what  had  been 
formerly  pledged,  "  an  additional  permanent  annuity  of 
one  thousand  dollars,  forty  horses,  the  use  of  six  wagons 
and  teams  to  remove  heavy  articles,  provisions  for  the 
journey,  and  one  year's  subsistence  after  they  reached 
their  new  home.  Also  the  erection  of  a  grist  and  saw 
mill  within  two  years." 

Under  this  fair  promise  of  relief  from  the  tedious  con 
flicts,  painful  uncertainties,  and  disappointments  of  the 
past,  the  Delawares  reached  their  El  Dorado  in  the  spring 
of  1829.  An  incident  that  took  place  upon  their  arrival 
at  the  Kansas  River  illustrates  the  courageous  spirit  of 
Chief  Journeycake,  and  at  the  same  time  affords  a  view 
of  that  providence  which  was  preparing  for  him  the 
career  which  has  distinguished  him  as  a  man.  On  reach 
ing  the  spot  where  they  were  to  cross  the  Kansas  River, 
it  was  found  greatly  swollen  by  recent  rains.  It  was 
necessary  to  take  a  number  of  horses  across  the  river  by 
causing  them  to  swim.  The  young  brave,  then  less  than 

1  "A  Century  of  Dishonor,"  pp.  48,  49. 


26  THE   INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

twelve  years  old,  mounted  the  leader  and  fearlessly 
plunged  into  the  swollen  river.  Reaching  the  opposite 
bank  in  safety,  he  says,  "  I  noticed  a  man  with  a  white 
hat,  who  proved  to  be  a  white  man,  standing  near  and 
looking  at  me."  The  stranger  approached  the  brave 
young  rider  and  addressed  him  kindly  in  the  few  Indian 
words  he  had  already  learned.  This  stranger  was  I.  D. 
Blanchard  who,  with  the  noted  missionary  to  the  Indians, 
Isaac  McCoy,  was  there  all  ready  to  start  a  mission 
among  the  Delawares  and  related  tribes  in  this  new  In 
dian  settlement  about  forming.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  a  friendship  often  appreciatively  mentioned  by  Mr. 
Journeycake  in  after  years.  His  mother,  Mrs.  Sally 
Journeycake,  in  1831,  became  the  first  interpreter  for  the 
missionaries  in  the  Territory  of  Kansas,  and  her  heart 
was  caused  to  rejoice  in  these  privileges  of  co-operation 
with  other  workers  for  Christ.  With  gladness  she  ren 
dered  into  the  language  of  her  people  the  wonderful 
words  of  the  gospel  which  had  been  so  blessed  to  her. 

In  1833  "the  Secretary  of  War  congratulated  the 
nation  on  the  fact  that  the  country  north  of  the  Ohio, 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  including  the  States  of  Ohio,  In 
diana,  Illinois,  and  the  Territory  of  Michigan  as  far  as 
the  Fox  and  Wisconsin  Rivers,  had  been  practically 
cleared  of  the  embarrassments  of  Indian  relations,  as  there 
are  not  more  than  five  thousand  Indians,  all  told,  left  in 
this  whole  region."  And  in  this  same  year  the  Commis 
sioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  referring  to  the  condition  of  the 
Indians,  notably  these  Delawares,  gratefully  notices — 


ANCESTRY   AND    CHILDHOOD  27 

"How  much  the  Indians'  condition  is  ameliorated  under 
the  policy  of  removal."  "  Protected  by  the  strong  arm 
of  the  government,  and  dwelling  on  lands  distinctly  and 
permanently  established  as  their  own,  enjoying  a  delight 
ful  climate  and  a  fertile  soil  "  they  have  "  turned  their  at 
tention  to  the  cultivation  of  the  earth  and  abandoned  the 
chase  for  the  surer  supply  of  domestic  animals." 

In  the  same  year  (1833)  the  agent  for  the  Delawares 
and  Shavvnees  mentioned  that  he  "  was  shown  cloth  that 
was  spun  and  wove,  and  shirts  and  other  clothing  made 
by  the  Indian  girls."  It  was  not  the  first  time  the  Dela 
wares  had  shown  a  disposition  to  "  turn  their  attention  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  earth,"  and  to  other  pursuits  of  a 
frontier  civilization,  as  their  cornfields  forty  years  before 
bore  witness. 


CHAPTER  V 

CONVERSION    AND    EARLY    CHRISTIAN    LIFE 

THERE  is  probably  no  better  illustration  of  the  working 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  hearts  of  men  by  the  use  of 
his  own  word,  and  the  sanctifying  influence  of  redeemed 
souls,  than  Charles  Journeycake.  We  have  seen  some 
thing  of  this  in  the  case  of  his  mother.  The  passages  of 
Scripture  and  verses  of  Christian  hymns  learned  while 
interpreting  for  the  missionaries,  the  good  seed  of  the 
kingdom,  falling  into  good  ground  sprang  up  and  bore 
fruit  in  her  own  conversion  and  consecrated  life.  We 
have  traced  the  impression  of  her  devotion  upon  her 
eleven-years-old  son  on  their  weary  journeying  to  the 
West,  in  1828.  More  than  sixty  years  afterward,  when 
past  threescore  and  ten  years  of  age,  Mr.  Journeycake 
used  to  describe  to  the  writer  in  glowing  and  graphic 
terms  the  profound  impressions  made  upon  him  by  the 
piety  of  his  mother  in  those  early  days. 

Arrangements  were  made  at  once,  upon  their  arrival 
in  1829,  to  begin  mission  work  on  their  Kansas  Reserva 
tion.  As  might  be  expected,  progress  at  first  was  very 
slow.  I  have  found  no  record  of  organized  mission  work 
earlier  than  1833  when  it  appears  that  the  Baptist  Gen 
eral  Convention  had  an  established  mission  there.  In 
the  meantime,  Charles  Journeycake  fully  accepted  Christ, 
28 


CONVERSION    AND    EARLY   CHRISTIAN    LIFE     29 

and  in  1833,  was  baptized  by  a  missionary  by  the  name 
of  Likins.  He  was  the  first  Delaware  baptized  in  the 
present  century  and,  except  his  mother,  the  only  Chris 
tian  of  his  tribe.  In  1835  his  father  being  also  con 
verted,  father  and  mother  were  baptized.  This  was  the 
beginning  and  nucleus  of  a  Baptist  church  among  the 
Delaware  Indians,  and  its  subsequent  history  shows  how 
it  conformed  to  the  methods  of  divine  grace  as  seen  in 
the  New  Testament  and  in  Christian  history.  It  would  be 
very  interesting  to  speak  at  greater  length  of  these  early 
missionary  efforts ;  but  the  data  at  hand  are  very  lim 
ited.  We  are  only  able  to  discover  that  the  Baptist  Gen 
eral  Convention  and  its  successor,  the  Missionary  Union, 
among  many  other  similar  efforts  among  the  Indians, 
conducted  mission  work  "among  the  Delaware  and 
Stockbridge  Indians,  beyond  the  Mississippi,  from  1833 
to  1864,"  when  the  Indian  work  was  transferred  by  the 
Missionary  Union  to  the  Home  Mission  Society.  This 
was  twenty-one  years  before  Kansas  was  organized  into  a 
a  Territory  of  the  United  States  and  admitted  for  settle 
ment  as  such  by  an  act  of  Congress  in  May,  1854,  and  it 
seems  highly  probable  that  Charles  Journeycake  was 
the  first  person  baptized  in  what  is  now  the  State  of 
Kansas. 

After  the  baptism  of  his  father  and  mother,  in  1835, 
we  have  no  means  of  knowing  the  progress  of  the  work 
for  a  number  of  years ;  but  there  is  every  reason  to  be 
lieve  that,  like  all  mission  work  at  its  beginning,  it  was 
exceedingly  slow.  In  1837  Rev.  J.  G.  Pratt  and  wife 


30  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOUKNEYCAKE 

set  out  from  Boston  for  the  far  West,  and  on  the  12th  of 
May  reached  what  was  then  called  the  Shawuee  mission, 
in  which  the  Delawares  seem  to  have  shared,  near  Leav 
en  worth,  Kansas.  In  1838  nearly  a  hundred  Stock- 
bridge  Indians  came  from  Wisconsin  and  settled  in  the 
same  neighborhood.  They  were  well  civilized  and  were 
of  an  intelligent  and  vigorous  stock.  They  were  Pres 
byterians  in  faith,  but  under  Mr.  Pratt's  teaching  a  num 
ber  of  them  became  Baptists,  and  this  added  strength  to 
the  Delaware  Baptist  Mission. 

Mr.  Journeycake  began  preaching  when  still  a  young 
man.  He  preached  in  his  own  language  and  in  the 
Shawnee,  Wyandotte,  Seneca,  and  Ottawa  dialects.  He 
was  a  great  traveler,  ranging  over  wide  areas  of  the  vast 
plains  of  the  West,  attending  Indian  councils,  and  en 
gaging  in  his  favorite  pastime  of  hunting.  There  is 
evidence  that  he  went  everywhere  preaching  the  gospel. 
He  has  told  the  writer  of  a  time  when  still  a  young  man, 
when  going  with  a  number  of  the  head  men  of  his  tribe 
to  attend  a  great  council  down  in  the  Cherokee  Nation, 
they  reached  a  point  where  religious  meetings  were  being 
held.  He  was  so  fired  with  zeal  for  the  faith  that  he 
obtained  leave  to  tarry  behind  and  aid  in  the  meetings 
for  a  number  of  days  before  he  went  on  and  joined  his 
friends  and  the  council. 

His  friends  wished  him  to  be  ordained  to  the  ministry 
in  these  earlier  days  in  Kansas  ;  but  he  seems  to  have  had 
no  special  ambition  for  its  honors.  He  said  there  was 
the  missionary  to  administer  ordinances,  and  there  was 


CONVERSION    AND    EARLY    CHRISTIAN    LIFE     31 

no  special  need  of  his  ordination,  therefore  he  preferred 
to  continue  as  he  was,  a  layman  helping  the  Lord's  cause 
as  opportunity  might  open ;  and  this  same  spirit  of  defer 
ence  to  others  in  ministerial  functions  characterized  him 
to  the  end  of  life. 


CHAPTER  VI 

MARRIAGE   AND    FAMILY    LIFE 

IN  1837,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  Mr.  Journeycake  was 
married  to  Jane  Sosha,  a  Delaware  maid  about  sixteen 
years  of  age.  Of  her  family  little  more  can  be  learned 
than  that  she  was  born  in  February,  1821.  But  her  life 
has  made  it  evident  that  the  same  wise  Providence  that 
in  so  many  ways  shaped  the  life  of  our  brother  was  his 
guide  in  choosing  his  wife.  It  would  be  most  interesting 
were  it  possible  to  penetrate  the  past,  and  look  in  upon 
the  home  of  the  young  Indian  and  his  bride  when  they 
thus  began  a  marriage  union,  which  for  the  graces  of 
domestic  love,  harmony,  and  home  making,  formed  such 
a  conspicuous  figure  throughout  the  fifty-six  years  of 
their  married  life.  The  writer  of  these  pages  deems  it 
one  of  the  rare  privileges  of  his  own  life  to  have  shared 
the  blessings  and  noted  the  influences  of  that  home  dur 
ing  the  ripened  and  closing  years  of  its  full  fruition. 
Mrs.  Journeycake  was,  in  the  fullest  sense,  a  most  faith 
ful  and  helpful  companion  to  her  honored  husband  in 
his  life-work.  To  say  that  Grandmother  Journeycake, 
as  she  was  called  by  all  who  knew  her  in  her  later  years, 
was  one  whose  praise  was  upon  every  tongue  as  far  as 
she  was  known,  is  but  feebly  to  express  the  universal 
esteem  in  which  she  was  held.  Further  mention  of  her 
32 


MARRIAGE    AND    FAMILY    LIFE  33 

will  appear  in  the  progress  of  this  story.  Less  than  the 
above  could  not  well  be  said  here  of  the  one  who  was 
ever  such  a  benign  presence  in  the  home  of  her  husband. 
As  the  family  of  Mr.  Journeycake  constitute  so  impor 
tant  a  factor  in  the  religious  career  of  the  Delaware  peo 
ple  it  may  be  of  interest  to  glance  at  their  history. 

There  were  eight  daughters  who  grew  to  womanhood, 
and  two  sons  who  died  in  early  childhood.  The  daugh 
ters  were  all  married,  were  all  converted,  and  became 
members  of  the  Baptist  church,  and  five  of  them  are 
yet  living.  Some  of  them  were  educated  in  our  Baptist 
institution  at  Granville,  Ohio,  and  all  are  women  of  cul 
ture,  are  good  homekeepers,  and  efficient  workers  in  the 
church. 

Of  the  progress  of  religious  work  among  the  Dela- 
wares,  from  the  advent  of  Mr.  Pratt  and  wife  among 
them  in  1837,  for  the  next  thirty  years,  but  little  can  be 
learned.  There  were  evidently  a.  number  of  them  con 
verted,  outside  of  the  Journeycake  family,  and  among 
these  some  influential  men.  But  the  progress  of  the 
work  was  at  best  very  slow.  It  is  certain  that  Mr.  Jour 
neycake  and  his  family  must  have  been  the  important 
factors  in  the  religious  life  of  the  Delawares  during  that 
period,  for  when,  after  their  removal  to  the  Indian  Terri 
tory,  they  organized  the  Delaware  Baptist  Church,  on 
Lightning  Creek,  of  eleven  constituent  members,  seven 
were  members  of  his  family,  viz.,  himself  and  wife,  his 
mother  and  four  daughters.  It  is  also  certain  that  great 
trials  had  attended  them  during  these  years.  Infringe- 

c 


34  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

ments  upon  their  lands  by  the  whites,  and  uncertainty  and 
unrest  came  to  them ;  and  it  is  probable  that  during  the 
latter  part  of  their  stay  in  Kansas  there  was  great  deple 
tion  of  their  numbers  by  death  and  by  a  decline  in 
their  religious  life  and  activity.  At  the  same  time  it  was 
a  period  of  seed-sowing  from  which  in  God's  own  time 
there  came  a  glorious  harvest. 

Before  entering  upon  the  later  and  more  fruitful 
period  in  the  religious  life  of  the  Delaware  people  and 
the  Journeycake  family,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  briefly 
review  their  Kansas  experience.  In  a  former  chapter  is 
given  the  solemn  assurance  of  the  United  States  that  this 
"  country  in  the  forks  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  rivers, 
selected  for  their  home,  shall  be  conveyed  and  forever 
secured  to  the  Delaware  Nation,  as  their  permanent 
home,"  etc.  From  such  published  reports  as  are  avail 
able,  we  glean  the  following  facts  as  to  the  character  and 
disposition  of  these  people  in  the  years  that  followed. 
In  1838  they  were  reported  as  cultivating  one  thousand 
five  hundred  acres  of  land  in  grain  and  vegetables,  and 
raising  much  stock,  and  that  "  they  are  a  brave,  enter 
prising  people,"  and  "at  peace  with  all  neighboring 
Indians."  They  were  vigorous  and  successful  hunters. 
Parties  of  them  frequently  made  excursions  across  the 
plains  and  into  the  Rocky  Mountains  for  beaver,  some 
times  returning  with  booty  to  the  value  of  a  thousand 
dollars  each.  But  here  is  one  of  the  saddest  records  in 
all  their  history,  and  one  that  constitutes  a  sad  blot  on 
our  boasted  civilization:  "The  money  was  soon  spent, 


MARRIAGE    AND    FAMILY    LIFE  35 

chiefly  for  ardent  spirits."  An  agent  reports  about  this 
time  :  "  The  only  hindrance  now  in  the  way  of  the  Dela- 
wares,  Shawnees,  and  Kickapoos,  is  ardent  spirits. 
These  whisky  traffickers,  who  seem  void  of  all  con 
science,  rob  and  murder  many  of  these  Indians."  He 
calls  it  robbery  and  murder,  because  "  they  will  get 
them  drunk,  and  then  take  their  horses,  guns,  or  the 
blankets  from  their  backs,  regardless  of  how  quickly 
they  may  freeze  to  death."  Mr.  Journeycake  lias  related 
to  the  writer  incidents  fully  corroborating  these  state 
ments.  How  fearful  is  the  reckoning  that  may  yet  be 
exacted  for  atrocities  so  committed !  And  yet  at  the 
same  time  these  Del  a  wares  were  consulting  for  ways  of 
bettering  their  situation,  especially  in  the  matter  of  edu 
cation  for  their  children.  In  1844  their  chiefs  met 
together  and  prepared  and  forwarded  to  Washington  a 
paper,  "requesting  that  all  the  school  funds  to  which 
they  were  entitled  by  treaty  might  be  paid  to  the  Indian 
Manual  Labor  School,  near  Fort  Leavenworth  Agency ; 
might  be  pledged  to  that  school  for  ten  years  to  come ; 
and  that  they  might  therefore  be  guaranteed  the  educa 
tion  and  subsistence  of  Delaware  children,  not  exceeding 
fifty  at  any  one  time."  This  is  well  called  a  "  remark 
able  document,"  emanating  as  it  did  from  a  people 
so  recently  having  emerged  from  the  barbarism  of 
the  savage.  In  1845  the  Delawares  were  said  to  have 
"  raised  a  sufficiency  to  subsist  on,"  and  that  "  they  have 
lately  built  out  of  their  own  means  a  good  saw  and  irrist- 
mill,  with  two  run  of  stones,  one  for  corn,  and  the  other 


1,6  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOUKNEYCAKE 

for  wheat."  The  following  is  suggestive  of  much  of  the 
experience  through  which  they  were  compelled  to  pass. 
"  At  this  time,"  so  we  read  for  1845,  •'  they  are  waiting 
with  much  anxiety  to  see  if  their  'Great  Father'  will 
punish  the  Sioux,  who  have  at  two  different  times  attacked 
them,  and  murdered  in  all  some  thirty  men.  They  say 
they  do  not  want  to  offend  their  '  Great  Father,'  and 
therefore  before  taking  means  to  avenge  themselves  they 
will  wait  and  see  if  he  will  compel  the  Sioux  to  make 
reparation." 

"  In  1853,"  the  record  runs,  "  the  Delawares  are 
among  the  most  remarkable  of  our  colonized  tribes.  By 
their  intrepidity  and  varied  enterprise  they  are  distin 
guished  in  a  high  degree.  Besides  being  industrious 
farmers  and  herdsmen,  they  hunt  and  trade  all  over  the 
interior  of  the  continent,  carrying  their  traffic  beyond 
the  Great  Salt  Lake,  and  exposing  themselves  to  a  thou 
sand  perils."  At  this  time  Mr.  Journeycake  \\  is  thirty- 
six  years  of  age,  and  from  what  is  known  of  his  prowess 
and  fondness  for  hunting  it  is  certain  that  he  was  behind 
none  of  his  comrades  in  the  qualities  above  described. 
This  would  be  inferred  also  from  the  fact  that  only  two 
years  after  this  he  was  chosen  chief  of  one  of  the  princi 
pal  clans,  and  in  a  few  years  more  became  principal  chief 
of  the  tribe. 

The  following  incident  related  by  the  agent  of  the  Dela 
wares  in  his  report  for  1853,  and  quoted  by  "  H.  H.," 
in  "  A  Century  of  Dishonor,"  was  related  to  the  present 
writer  by  Chief  Journeycake  only  a  few  years  ago.  A 


MARRIAGE    AND    FAMILY    LIFE  37 

small  party  of  Delawares,  consisting  of  a  man,  his  squaw, 
and  a  lad  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  were  returning 
from  a  successful  hunt  in  the  mountains.  They  had  thir 
teen  head  of  horses  and  mules,  four  hundred  and  forty- 
five  dollars  in  money,  besides  many  other  articles  of  value. 
The  second  day  after  they  commenced  their  homeward 
journey,  the  man  sickened  and  died.  Before  his  death 
he  directed  his  wife  and  the  young  man  to  hasten  home 
with  the  property.  After  traveling  a  number  of  days 
they  were  overtaken  near  some  of  the  forts  on  the  Arkan 
sas  River,  by  four  white  men,  who  were  deserters  from  the 
United  States  army — one  man  riding  a  mule,  the  other 
three  on  foot.  The  widow  and  the  yrung  man  who 
attended  her  loaned  each  of  the  three  a  horse  or  a  mule 
to  ride,  and  furnished  them  with  provisions,  and  they 
traveled  on  together.  After  six  or  seven  days  of  this 
kindness  they  reached  Cottonwood  Creek,  thirty-five  or 
forty  miles  west  of  Council  Grove.  One  evening,  while 
resting,  the  four  men  turned  upon  their  benefactors, 
killed  the  young  man,  and  cut  the  throat  of  the  woman ; 
and  supposing  both  to  be  dead,  they  "dragged  the  two 
bodies  into  the  grass.  They  took  the  property  and  hur 
ried  on  to  Jackson  County,  Missouri,  where  they  disposed 
of  the  stock,  and  three  of  them  took  a  steamer  for  St. 
Louis.  After  their  departure  the  woman  returned  to 
consciousness,  and  discovering  that  the  lad  had  been 
killed,  and  all  their  possessions  had  disappeared,  in 
her  enfeebled  and  dangerous  condition  took  the  road  for 
Council  Grove.  On  the  fifth  day,  according  to  her 


THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

reckoning,  she  was  overtaken  by .  a  Kaw  Indian,  and 
helped  into  Council  Grove.  Here  the  traders  gave  her 
every  possible  attention,  and  sent  a  runner  to  the  Dela 
ware  Agency,  and  they  soon  succeeded  in  capturing  one 
of  the  men  at  Liberty,  Missouri.  This  man  confessed 
the  whole  horrible  business.  A  telegram  intercepted  the 
other  three  at  St.  Louis,  and  the  widow,  weak  as  she  was, 
went  to  Liberty  and  confronted  her  would-be  murderers. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  this  is  only  one  of  many  such 
thrilling  adventures  that  befell  these  people,  and  well 
indicates  the  lawlessness  that  often  prevailed  in  the 
lonely  stretches  of  the  great  West. 

But  another  removal  and  other  trials  await  the  brave 
Delawares,  and  in  these  we  shall  see  how  Chief  Journey- 
cake,  now  the  main  reliance  of  his  people,  shows  the  stuff 
of  which  he  is  made. 


CHAPTER  VII 

PREPARATIONS   FOR   ANOTHER   REMOVAL 

DURING  the  writing  of  these  pages  there  has  been  held, 
at  Defiance,  Ohio,  the  centennial  anniversary  of  Wayne's 
great  victory  on  the  Maumee  River,  in  1794,  on  which 
occasion  General  Wayne  and  his  forces  destroyed  the 
villages  and  cornfields  of  the  Delawares  and  related 
tribes.  In  a  letter  of  General  Wayne  to  the  Secretary  of 
War,  in  August,  1794,  referring  to  the  Indian  property 
destroyed,  he  says:  "The  very  extensive  and  highly 
cultivated  fields  and  gardens  show  the  work  of  many 
hands.  The  margins  of  those  beautiful  rivers  —  the 
Miamis,  of  the  Lake,  and  Au  Glaize — appear  like  one  con 
tinued  village  for  a  number  of  miles,  both  above  and 
below  this  place;  nor  have  I  ever  before  beheld  such 
immense  fields  of  corn  in  any  part  of  America,  from 
Canada  to  Florida."  The  leading  Indians  whose  pos 
sessions  a  hundred  years  ago  are  thus  described,  were  the 
ancestors  of  our  Delawares  of  whom  we  now  write,  and 
the  above  extract  is  introduced  here  to  remind  the  reader 
of  the  progress  toward  civilization  that  they  had  made 
even  at  that  early  day.  A  people  capable  of  such  results 
were  also  capable  of  entertaining  high  hopes  and  aspira 
tions,  and  of  feeling  keenly  the  disappointment  of  these 

hopes. 

39 


40  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

We  have  noted  the  positive  assurances  of  our  govern 
ment  in  regard  to  their  possessions,  both  as  to  permanence 
and  protection.  We  have  seen  the  failure  of  the  govern 
ment  to  make  those  assurances  good.  We  have  traced 
the  successive  yieldings  of  their  guaranteed  possessions, 
the  weary  and  tedious  removal  to  the  extreme  border  of 
civilization  and  the  renewed  assurance  that  now  at  last 
they  were  to  be  no  more  disturbed ;  that  now  the  United 
States  would  protect  them  forever  against  any  and  all 
intruders  upon  the  lands  set  apart  for  their  home  in  the 
forks  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri  Rivers.  It  remains 
now  to  relate  how  their  hopes  are  again  to  be  blighted 
by  another  series  of  infringements  upon  their  rights ; 
another  failure  of  plighted  faith  and  another  necessity 
for  removal  and  beginning  anew,  when  by  the  inspira 
tion  of  those  hopes  they  had  risen  to  a  high  degree  of 
enterprise  and  civilization. 

In  1854  the  influx  of  white  settlers  into  Kansas  was 
so  great  that  it  became  evident  that  the  Indian  reserva 
tions  there  could  not  be  kept  intact,  and  the  Delawares 
were  induced  to  cede  back  to  the  United  States  a  large 
portion  of  their  lands  to  be  opened  to  white  settlement. 
In  1855  their  agent  wrote  of  the  results:  "The  Indians 
have  experienced  enough  to  shake  their  confidence  in  the 
laws  which  govern  the  white  race.  The  irruptions  of  in 
truders  on  their  trust  lands,  their  bloody  dissensions 
among  themselves,  etc.,  must  necessarily,  to  these  unso 
phisticated  people,  have  presented  our  system  of  govern 
ment  in  an  unfavorable  light.  Yet,  notwithstanding  all," 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  ANOTHER  REMOVAL   41 

it  is  added,  "  the  simple-minded  trustingness  of  these 
people  is  astonishing." 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  in  1861,  and  a  call  was 
made  for  troops,  a  larger  proportion  of  their  able-bodied 
men  enlisted  in  the  United  States  army,  it  is  said,  than 
in  any  other  community  in  the  whole  country.  "  The 
Delawares  enlisted  in  1862,  one  hundred  and  seventy 
men  out  of"  a  population  of  only  two  hundred  men,  be 
tween  the  ages  of  eighteen  and  forty-five.  They  officered 
their  own  companies,  and  their  men  are  credited  with 
being  tractable,  sober,  watchful,  and  obedient  to  the 
commands  of  their  superiors."  The  use  of  spirituous 
liquors  was  strictly  prohibited  among  them  in  the  army, 
though  at  home  drunkenness  was  their  greatest  vice. 

Concerning  the  condition  of  the  Delawares,  when  the 
necessity  of  removal  began  again  to  confront  them,  and 
as  an  evidence  of  the  advance  made  in  civilization,  when 
ever  they  had  a  favorable  opportunity,  the  following  state 
ments  are  given,  the  date  of  the  same  being  about  1862 : 
"  Several  of  them  have  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  acres 
of  land  in  cultivation,  with  comfortable  dwellings,  barns, 
and  outhouses.  All  the  families  are  domiciled  in  houses. 
.  .  .  Their  crops  of  corn  will  yield  largely.  Nearly 
every  family  will  have  a  sufficiency  for  their  own  con 
sumption,  and  many  of  the  larger  farmers  a  surplus.  .  . 
There  are  but  few  Delaware  children  of  the  age  of  twelve 
or  fourteen  that  cannot  read."  "  Here  is  a  community 
of  a  thousand  people,  larger  than  many  of  the  farming 
villages  of  New  England ;  .  .  .  the  average  of  personal 


42  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

property  amounting  to  a  thousand  dollars."  And  yet, 
from  this  prosperous  settlement,  and  from  possessions  that 
had  been  solemnly  guaranteed  to  them  by  the  United 
States,  their  rights  in  the  same  to  be  protected  against 
all  white  settlers,  with  lands  greatly  increased  in  value  by 
their  industry  and  enterprise — from  all  this  it  is  to  be 
"  to  their  interest  to  be  removed,"  and  why  ? 

The  following  from  the  Commissioner  •  of  Indian 
Affairs,  in  1866,  will  explain  why.  His  report  says: 
"  The  State  of  Kansas  is  fast  being  filled  by  an  energetic 
population  who  appreciate  good  land ;  and  as  the  Indian 
reservations  were  selected  as  being  the  best  in  the  State, 
but  one  result  can  be  expected  to  follow." 

It  is  not  surprising  that  under  these  conditions  and  the 
agitations  incident  thereto,  "  improvements  have  been 
much  retarded  among  the  Delawares  and  other  Indians 
in  Kansas."  In  1864,  it  was  said  :  "The  greater  part  of 
the  personal  property  owned  by  the  Delawares  is  in 
stock,  '  which  is  constantly  being  preyed  upon  by  the 
whites,  until  it  has  become  so  reduced  that  it  is  difficult 
to  obtain  a  good  animal  in  the  nation."  It  was  esti 
mated  that  their  stock  had  "  undergone  a  depletion  to 
the  extent  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  in  the  past  year." 
There  is  not  space  here  to  mention  a  tithe  of  the  abuses 
and  discouragement  that  were  heaped  upon  them  during 
these  trying  years — years  too,  when  more  than  half  of 
their  adult  male  population  were  in  the  army.  When 
these  returned  after  the  war,  it  would  have  been  a  miracle  if 
many  of  them  had  not  been  demoralized  and  weakened  by 


PREPARATIONS  FOB  ANOTHER  REMOVAL   43 

the  vices  of  army  life ;  so  that  from  all  these  causes  these 
Delawares  must  have  begun  their  new  life  in  the  Terri 
tory  shorn  of  much  of  their  former  strength,  and  ill 
prepared  to  take  up  again  the  burdens  of  making  new 
homes  for  themselves.  But  in  spite  of  these  adverse  con 
ditions,  there  were  evidences  of  much  vigor  and  energy  of 
purpose  among  them.  In  July,  1866,  it  is  said :  "  The 
Delaware  chiefs,  distressed  by  the  state  of  affairs,  drew 
up  for  their  nation  a  code  of  laws  which  compare  favor 
able  with  the  laws  of  so-called  civilized  States." 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  subject  of  this  memoir 
— Charles  Journeycake  —  had,  at  this  time,  been  for 
several  years  principal  chief;  and  these  laws  bear  the 
impress  of  his  master  mind.  Some  years  earlier,  in  1863, 
the  Delawares  had  "  petitioned  the  United  States  govern 
ment  to  permit  them  to  take  eight  hundred  dollars  of 
their  annuity  funds  to  pay  the  expense  of  sending  a  del 
egation  of  their  chiefs  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  see  if 
they  could  find  there  a  country  that  would  answer  for 
their  new  home."  The  commissioner  advised  that  they 
should  not  be  permitted  to  go  to  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
but  to  the  country  south  of  Kansas — the  Indian  Territory, 
of  which  "the  geographical  situation  is  such  that  its 
occupation  by  lawless  whites  can  be  more  easily  pre 
vented  than  any  other  portion  of  the  country."  The 
following,  taken  from  the  commissioner's  report  for  1866, 
will  sufficiently  indicate  the  reasons  why  "  Most  of  the 
Indians  were  anxious  to  move  to  the  Indian  country, 
south  of  Kansas,  where  white  settlers  cannot  interfere 


44  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

with  them.'*  "  Intermingled,  as  the  Kansas  reservations 
are  with  the  public  lands,  and  surrounded  in  most  cases 
by  white  settlers  who  too  often  act  on  the  principle  that 
an  Indian  has  no  rights  that  a  white  man  is  bound  to 
respect,  they  are  injured  and  annoyed  in  many  ways. 
Their  stock  are  stolen,  their  fences  are  broken  down,  their 
timber  destroyed,  their  young  men  plied  with  whisky, 
their  women  debauched ;  so  that,  while  the  uncivilized 
are  kept  in  a  worse  than  savage  state,  having  the  crimes 
of  civilization  forced  upon  them,  those  farther  advanced 
and  disposed  to  honest  industry,  are  discouraged  beyond 
endurance."  While  all  these  experiences  may  not  have 
applied  to  the  Delawares,  most  of  the  grievances  did,  and 
most  of  the  nation  were  now  prepared  to  accept  the  con 
ditions  of  removal. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

MADE    CHIEF 

IN  1855  Mr.  Journeycake  was  chosen  one  of  the  chiefs 
of  his  tribe — chief  of  the  Wolf  Clan.  As  an  evidence 
of  the  esteem  in  which  their  chiefs  were  held,  we  find,  in 
1854,  this  record.  They  had  just  sold  to  the  government 
a  large  tract  of  their  land  for  ten  thousand  dollars,  and 
in  connection  with  the  treaty  of  sale  it  is  said  : 

The  Delawares  feel  now,  as  heretofore,  grateful  to  their 
old  chiefs  for  their  long  and  faithful  services.  In  former 
treaties,  when  their  means  were  scanty,  they  provided  by 
small  life  annuities  for  the  wants  of  their  chiefs,  some  of 
whom  are  now  receiving  them.  These  chiefs  are  poor, 
and  the  Delawares  believe  it  their  duty  to  keep  them 
from  want  in  their  old  age.  .  .  The  sum  of  ten  thousand 
dollars  was  therefore  to  be  paid  to  their  five  chiefs — two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  year  each. 

In  1861  Mr.  Journeycake  became  principal  chief  of 
his  tribe;  so  that  he  stood  in  that  relation  during  the 
trying  scenes  of  the  war  and  the  incidents  that  led  up  to 
the  abandonment  of  their  valuable  homes  and  their 
tribal  government,  and  the  removal  again  to  a  new  and 
untried  country.  Of  his  qualifications  for  that  position  we 
can  best  judge  from  the  knowledge  gained  of  him  later 
in  life.  But  there  was  in  his  make-up  undoubted  indica 
tions  that  he  was  a  born  leader.  His  whole  life  was  dis- 

45 


46 

tinguished  for  courage  and  undaunted  bravery.  These 
were  combined  with  a  mildness  and  kindness  of  disposi 
tion  that  made  him  one  to  be  trusted  and  leaned  upon. 
Though  with  limited  opportunities  for  education,  he  yet 
had  mental  ability  which  eminently  fitted  him  to  be 
not  only  a  leader,  but  almost  a  seer  for  his  people.  He 
had  psychical  experiences  which,  without  any  attempt  to 
explain  them,  cannot  well  be  passed  over.  He  had  fre 
quent  dreams  or  visions  of  the  night,  in  which  he  seemed 
to  see  clearly  things  either  then  taking  place  or  soon  to 
take  place,  dreams  which  subsequent  events  fully  verified. 
In  his  early  childhood,  as  he  afterward  remembered  and 
interpreted  it,  there  came  to  him  in  his  dreams  appear 
ances  and  scenery  not  only  wholly  different  from  all  that 
his  waking  eyes  had  seen,  but  which  nothing  in  his  then 
surroundings  could  possibly  suggest.  Something  like  a 
panorama  of  his  life  as  it  afterward  unfolded,  he  was  ac 
customed  to  look  back  upon  as  having  appeared  to  him 
in  these  visions  of  his  early  childhood.  For  instance,  it 
seemed  to  him,  he  was  accustomed  to  say  in  his  later 
years,  that  the  surroundings  of  his  last  home,  the  land 
scape,  the  church  in  the  midst  of  it,  the  burying  ground 
just  a  little  way  distant — all  this  setting  of  his  ripened 
age  had  appeared  to  him  in  the  visions  of  his  early  boy 
hood.  In  1877,  after  the  settlement  in  the  Indian  Terri- 
ritory,  he  saw  in  a  dream  what  seemed  a  most  beautiful 
vision,  which  made  a  deep  impression  on  his  mind.  There 
appeared  to  his  view,  as  it  were,  a  great  sheet  of  white 
paper  stretching  across  the  heavens  from  east  to  west, 


MADE    CHIEF  47 

and  on  it  many  names  were  inscribed,  among  them  his 
own.  Fie  saw  some  one  point  to  it,  and  a  voice  said, 
"  We  must  lengthen  this  life,"  and  many  forms  seemed 
running  up  to  it  and  lengthening  the  inscription.  A  few 
days  after,  during  a  preaching  service,  one  of  his  Dela 
ware  friends  was  called  out  of  the  meeting-house,  and 
shot  by  an  assassin  in  open  day.  It  was  believed  that 
the  intention  of  the  assassin  was  to  kill  Mr.  Journeycake, 
but  that  in  some  providential  way  his  life  was  spared. 
It  was  not  surprising  that  in  the  light  of  his  previous  ex 
periences  he  should  have  associated  his  vision  with  this 
event.  It  was  a  time  when  life  was  exceedingly  insecure 
in  all  the  parts  of  the  Cherokee  nation,  where  the  Dela- 
wares  were  located.  The  whole  country  was  overrun  with 
desperadoes.  Mr.  Journeycake's  life  however,  seemed  as 
though  it  were  indeed  a  charmed  life.  His  own  house 
had  been  attacked,  evidently  with  murderous  intent,  but 
he  had  no  fear.  As  he  told  the  writer,  he  never  thought 
that  he  should  go  in  that  way.  As  he  related  such  inci 
dents  in  his  life,  he  was  singularly  free  from  any  assump 
tion  of  superiority.  Pie  had  no  sympathy  whatever  with 
modern  spiritism  or  kindred  vagaries,  and  seldom  spoke 
of  these  peculiar  experiences,  for  the  reason  that  people 
would  not  understand  them,  and  they  would  seem  be 
yond  belief.  The  writer  recalls  in  this  connection  that 
on  the  occasion  of  one  of  his  visits  to  Washington, 
at  the  hotel  where  he  was  stopping  there  was  a  profes 
sional  spiritual  medium.  Seances  were  being  held  in  a 
certain  room  of  the  hotel,  and  the  medium  sought  an 


48  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

introduction  and  urged  him  strongly  to  witness  the 
spiritual  manifestations,  but  such  was  his  antipathy  that 
he  utterly  refused. 

An  instance  in  one  of  his  hunting  excursions,  which  he 
looked  upon  somewhat  as  he  did  his  peculiar  visions, 
must  close  this  part  of  our  review.  He  related  that  on 
one  occasion,  accompanied  by  a  young  man,  he  followed 
a  bear  into  an  extended  cave.  It  was  very  dark,  except 
for  the  dim  light  of  a  torch  which  they  carried.  After 
winding  their  way  for  a  long  distance  there  was  a  sudden 
rushing  sound.  The  young  man  stepped  to  the  side  of 
the  cave  and  the  torch  went  out,  leaving  them  in  total 
darkness.  Mr.  Journeycake  ran  as  well  as  he  could 
toward  the  entrance,  but  soon  became  aware  that  the  bear 
was  in  close  pursuit.  He  said,  as  he  ran,  holding  his 
gun  ready  for  action,  on  looking  back  he  could  see  the 
eyes  of  the  bear  with  perfect  distinctness,  and  when  it 
was  no  longer  safe  to  trust  to  flight,  he  was  enabled  to 
take  aim  and  fire,  killing  the  animal  instantly.  He  was 
confident  there  was  no  light  by  which  he  could  see. 
There  is  no  attempt  to  explain  these  phenomena,  unless 
he  was  endowed  with  some  form  of  clairvoyance.  If  so, 
no  one  could  have  been  farther  from-  any  improper  use  of 
such  power. 

He  was  naturally  of  a  very  reticent  disposition,  and 
always  spoke  with  great  deliberation,  and  his  influence 
over  his  people  was  very  great.  Even  after  the  office  of 
chief  had  ceased,  he  was  still  and  to  the  very  last  the  re 
spected  adviser  in  all  matters  of  moment.  His  home  was 


MADE    CHIEF  49 

the  meeting-place  for  consultation,  and  his  hospitality 
was  ungrudging  and  without  stint.  His  experiences  with 
the  white  settlers  in  their  Kansas  reservation  and  in  his 
dealings  with  the  government,  made  it  sometimes  rather 
hard  to  repose  entire  confidence  in  the  "  pale  face,"  but 
in  spite  of  all  he  came  to  love  and  trust  especially  his 
white  Christian  brethren.  He  never  forgot  that  they  had 
given  to  his  race  the  gospel.  His  Christian  character 
will  be  exhibited  more  fully,  but  this  glimpse  of  it  is  fit 
ting  here. 


CHAPTER  IX 

KEMOVAL   AND   ITS   TRIALS 

IN  1866,  it  is.  said  in  the  government  reports  that  the 
Delawares,  still  on  their  Kansas  lands,  in  spite  of  deple 
tion  by  army  service  and  other  causes  of  weakening  and 
discouragement,  "  raised  seventy-two  thousand  bushels  of 
grain,  thirteen  thousand  bushels  of  potatoes,  and  owned 
five  thousand  head  of  cattle." 

In  July  of  this  year  a  treaty  was  made  for  the  sale  of 
their  lands,  and  providing  for  the  removal  to  the  Indian 
Territory  of  all  who  desired  to  go,  it  being  also  provided 
that  any  who  were  willing  to  become  citizens  of  the 
United  States  and  chose  to  remain  should  have  lands  set 
apart  in  severalty,  and  the  assignment  of  their  portion  of 
funds  belonging  to  the  tribe.  Only  a  few  families  chose 
to  so  remain. 

The  superintendent  of  the  agency  at  Ft.  Leavenworth 
wrote  about  this  time  (July,  1866)  :  ';  The  running  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad  through  the  Delawares'  dimin 
ished  reserve  has  been  a  source  of  grievous  annoyance 
and  damage  lo  the  Delawares,  as  has  also  an  organ 
ization  styled  the  Delaware  Lumber  Company."  This 
seems  to  have  been  a  company  formed  to  help  them 
selves  to  the  Delawares'  timber  and  sell  it  to  the  railway 
company. 
50 


REMOVAL    AND    ITS    TRIALS  51 

The  damage  to  the  Delaware  land  by  these  two  com 
panies  was  estimated  at  "twenty-eight  thousand  dollars." 
In  addition  to  these  losses,  it  is  added,  "  Other  causes  have 
conspired  to  render  them  in  haste  to  be  gone.  The  per 
petual  expectation  of  being  obliged  to  remove  had  un 
settled  the  whole  community,  and  made  them  indifferent 
to  effort  and  improvement.  The  return  of  their  young 
men  from  the  war  had  also  had  a  demoralizing  effect,"  etc. 

Thus  discouraged,  depleted,  and  weakened,  they  turned 
their  faces  again  to  the  new  wilderness  to  be  entered  and 
subdued.  During  1867  and  1868  the  most  of  them  had 
removed  to  the  territory  south  of  Kansas  where,  after 
considerable  delay  on  the  part  of  the  government  in 
adjusting  their  financial  matters,  they  surrendered  their 
national  or  tribal  existence  and  became  identified  with 
the  Cherokees  with  the  rights  of  Cherokee  citizens. 

Chief  Journeycake,  now  over  fifty  years  of  age,  had 
been  for  many  years  the  master-spirit  among  his  people. 
Dominated  in  his  own  life  and  in  his  family  by  a  strong 
Christian  impulse,  and  from  his  youth  active  in  preaching 
the  gospel  among  his  own  and  several  related  tribes,  we 
shall  now  begin  to  see  the  fruits  of  the  seed-sowing  of 
many  years. 

The  work  among  the  Delawares  in  Kansas  had  been, 
as  we  have  seen,  very  slow.  But  influences  beneath  the 
surface  were  in  preparation,  to  break  forth  in  due  time, 
into  a  bountiful  harvest. 

The  new  situation,  amid  the  changed  conditions  and 
the  unsettled  state  of  the  Indian  Territorv  after  the 


52  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOUENEYCAKE 

war,  where  life  itself  was  very  insecure,  was  a  very  try 
ing  one.  One  disaster  seemed  to  follow  another.  For 
the  first  few  years  a  fatal  disease  swept  off  all  their  best 
horses.  Others  were  stolen.  Thus  progress  seemed  to  be 
hindered  on  every  hand.  Though  in  the  Journeycake 
family  there  was  the  membership  of  a  church,  yet  it  was 
not  until  1871  that  a  church  was  organized. 

We  can  imagine  something  of  the  desolation  they  must 
have  felt  in  those  three  or  four  years.  Chief  Journey- 
cake's  family,  with  others  of  the  leading  Delawares,  were 
no  longer  rude  savages  ;  several  of  the  chief's  daughters 
had  been  educated,  some  of  them  at  Granville,  Ohio. 
They  had  a  good  degree  of  religious  culture.  Missionary 
Pratt  and  his  wife  had  now  been  with  them  thirty  years, 
and  one  of  their  sons  had  married  one  of  the  chief's  daugh 
ters.  The  mission  had  been  like  an  oasis  in  the  desert. 
There  is  evidence  that  its  advantages  were  highly  prized. 

In  1855,  the  Delawares  having  sold  a  part  of  their  lands 
for  quite  a  sum  of  money,  the  Home  Mission  Society  was 
about  to  withdraw  its  support,  thinking  that  the  Dela 
wares  were  now  able  to  take  care  of  themselves.  But 
Mr.  Journeycake  accompanied  Mr.  Pratt  to  New  York  to 
plead  for  continuance,  and  was  successful.  He  had  never 
been  ordained,  though  he  had  been  preaching  for  many 
years,  feeling  that  while  they  had  the  missionary  to  ad 
minister  the  ordinances,  it  was  not  necessary.  But  now 
Mr.  Pratt  and  family  had  been  left  behind  to  live  in  the 
old  mission  station,  and  these  few  sheep  in  the  wilderness 
were  without  a  shepherd  and  without  a  fold. 


REMOVAL    AND    ITS   TRIALS  53 

November  8,  1871,  they  organized  a  church  of  eleven 
members,  Mr.  Journeycake  and  wife  and  four  daughters 
with  his  aged  mother  making  seven  of  the  eleven.  A 
small  beginning  with  unfavorable  surroundings,  but  "  the 
Lord  had  much  people  among  them,"  and  within  a  year 
Mr.  Journeycake  was  permitted  to  see  the  realization  of 
one  of  his  early  dreams,  in  the  erection  of  a  substantial 
meeting-house,  in  the  center  of  the  settlement,  and  near 
his  home. 


CHAPTEK  X 

DEDICATION   AND    ORDINATION 

A  GREAT  revival  had  now  broken  out  among  the  Dela 
ware  people.  The  long  pent-up  forces  of  divine  truth 
began  to  break  forth  and  a  great  light  began  to  shine  in 
these  dark  places.  The  preacher-chief  proclaimed  the 
gospel  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit.  In  June,  1872, 
Rev.  N.  L.  Rigby,  of  Chetopah,  Kansas,  some  thirty  or 
forty  miles  away,  a  missionary  of  the  Home  Mission 
Society,  was  sent  for  and  baptized  fifty  converts.  But 
the  need  of  an  ordained  minister  of  their  own  number 
was  now  imperative.  The  meeting-house  was  completed, 
a  good  substantial  structure,  built  largely  by  Mr.  Jour- 
neycake's  own  means,  and  September  22,  1872,  the  dedi 
cation  of  the  house  took  place.  On  the  next  day  a 
council  convened  for  the  ordination  of  Charles  Journey- 
cake.  Fifty-five  years  of  age  and  abundant  in  labors, 
it  was  fitting  that  he  should  be  set  apart  to  the  gos 
pel  ministry  and  as  pastor  of  the  Delaware  Baptist 
Church. 

Rev.  J.  G.  Pratt,  from  the  old  mission  in  Kansas,  Rev. 
J.  B.  Jones,  of  Tahlequah,  long  a  missionary  to  the 
Cherokees,  and  Rev.  G.  J.  Johnson,  then  of  St.  Louis, 
Mo.,  were  present  to  conduct  the  services.  Dr.  Johnson 
was  engaged  at  the  time  as  Missionary  Secretary  of  the 
54 


DEDICATION    AND    ORDINATION  55 

American  Baptist  Publication  Society,  and  the  present 
writer  well  remembers  the  glowing  accounts  he  gave 
of  several  visits  to  the  Indian  Territory,  and  the  wonder 
ful  work  the  gospel  was  accomplishing  for  the  Indians. 
He  has  kindly  furnished  for  the  present  volume  an  ac 
count  of  the  dedication  and  ordination  services,  and  his 
impressions  at  the  time  of  the  character  and  influence  of 
Chief  Journeycake.  He  says : 

I  surely  regard  it  as  among  the  greater  favors  of  Provi 
dence,  with  which  my  life  has  abounded,  that  I  was  per 
mitted,  during  the  decade  commencing  with  1870,  and 
while  residing  in  St.  Louis  and  vicinity,  to  make  nine 
different  visits  into  the  Indian  Territory,  and  the  six 
civilized  tribes  of  Indians  there  (counting  the  Delawares 
as  a  separate  and  distinct  tribe  from  the  Cherokees 
among  whom  they  live)  and  to  tarry  at  the  homes  of  the 
people,  and  to  attend  upon  religious  meetings  with  them, 
and  thus  to  see  with  my  own  eyes  the  unmistakable  evi 
dences  furnished  there  of  the  power  that  is  still  inherent 
in  our  gospel  to  elevate  and  to  save  the  benighted  of  the 
earth.  I  am  also  grateful  for  these  visits  as  occasions  of 
the  greatest  religious  enjoyment  that  I  have  ever  experi 
enced  in  life.  I  am  sure  that  I  never  worshiped  God 
more  fervently  in  any  gathering  of  his  people ;  never 
have  been  happier  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel, 
whether  by  myself  or  when  hearing  it  from  others,  nor 
in  singing  and  praying,  than  with  those  regenerated  sons 
of  the  forest.  Nor  have  I  ever  met  with  any  people  who 
have,  upon  the  whole,  impressed  me  as  being  nobler  and 
purer  than  have  some  whom  I  came  somewhat  intimately 
to  know  among  these  Indians,  notably,  John  Jumper, 
chief  of  the  Seminoles,  and  Charles  Journeycake,  chief 
of  the  Delawares.  This  latter  is  now  gone  and  therefore 
I  may  speak  of  him  without  reserve. 

At  the  time  I  first  met  him  he  was  about  fifty  years  old, 


56  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURXEYCAKE 

slightly  gray,  and  showing  age — tall  in  stature,  erect, 
and  of  thoughtful,  dignified  mien.  His  looks  did  not  mis 
represent  him.  He  was  intelligent,  even  well  read,  bal 
lasted  with  excellent  common  sense  and  good  judgment. 
His  religion  was  to  him  a  matter  of  conviction  and  prin 
ciple,  and  his  piety  unfaltering  and  fervid,  growing  to 
the  end.  As  might  be  expected,  therefore,  his  life  was 
consistent  and  blameless,  and  always  commendatory  of 
his  profession. 

In  the  autumn  of  1872,  I  received  an  earnest  invita 
tion  from  Mr.  Journey  cake  to  attend  a  three  days'  meet 
ing  to  be  held  among  his  people,  when  a  new  house  of 
worship  was  to  be  dedicated,  he  himself  ordained  to 
the  ministry  and  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Delaware  Bap 
tist  Church,  and  a  number  of  recent  converts  to  be 
baptized.  I  readily  accepted  the  invitation.  The  rail 
road  from  St.  Louis  was  then  completed  only  to  Vinita, 
eighteen  miles  away  from  his  residence  at  Lightning 
Creek.  Upon  the  arrival  of  the  train  he  met  me  with 
a  turnout  that  I  considered  as  showing  me  much  honor. 
— his  own  family  equipage,  consisting  of  a  fine  covered 
carriage,  silver-tipped  harness,  and  a  span  of  spanking 
bays  that  he  seemed  to  enjoy  driving  as  much  as  I  did 
riding  after.  His  residence  was  a  neat  frame  structure, 
pleasantly  situated  in  an  ample  lawn,  amid  abundant 
shrubbery  and  shade,  and  in  the  center  of  a  vast  tract  of 
land  that  he  regarded  as  his  own,  and  on  which  were 
feeding  great  herds  of  his  own  cattle.  It  will  be  a  suf 
ficient  indication  of  his  wealth  to  say  now  that,  the  day 
before  my  arrival,  as  he  informed  me,  he  had  made  a 
single  cash  sale  from  the  stock  on  his  lands  that  amounted 
to  eighteen  hundred  dollars  ($1,800).  His  home  within 
gave  all  the  indications  of  comfort  and  refinement.  An 
ample  library  of  the  best  books,  the  latest  periodicals, 
and  the  musical  instruments  that  were  conspicuous,  at 
once  assured  you  that  you  were  within  the  abode  of  in 
telligence  and  culture. 

I  was  happy  to  find  here  before  me,  as  guests  at  the 


DEDICATION   AND   ORDINATION  57 

same  hospitable  home,  Rev.  J.  B.  Jones,  the  Home  Mis 
sion  Society's  missionary  among  the  Cherokees,  and  of  the 
Delawares  also,  and  Rev.  J.  G.  Pratt,  from  Kansas,  who 
thirty-five  years  previously  had  been  sent  out  by  the  old 
Triennial  Baptist  Convention  as  a  foreign  missionary  to 
the  Delaware  Indians,  at  that  time  living  in  what  is  now 
the  State  of  Kansas.  It  was  especially  fit  that  these 
brethren  should  be  here  on  this  interesting  occasion,  for 
Mr.  Jones  was  a  kind  of  superintending  bishop  over  this 
field,  and  Mr.  Pratt  had  been  for  many  years  Mr.  Jour 
ney  cake's  pastor,  the  one  chosen  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
him  and  his  people  in  the  early  stages  of  their  religious 
development,  had  been  his  instructor  and  chief  counselor, 
and  in  some  sort  his  spiritual  guide  for  almost  a  third  of 
a  century.  Of  course  these  two  were  specially  warm 
and  devoted  friends  to  each  other. 

First  came  the  dedicatory  services  of  the  new  house  of 
worship.  This  house  was  a  well-appearing  frame  struc 
ture,  that  was  said  to  have  cost  one  thousand  three  hun 
dred  dollars,  and  was  all  paid  for,  largely  and  mainly, 
I  think,  by  Mr.  Journeycake.  The  congregation  on 
this  occasion  entirely  filled  the  house,  and  save  a  single 
white  man  who  chanced  to  be  in  the  region  at  the  time, 
and  the  three  ministerial  visitors  before  mentioned,  all 
present  were  Indians. 

And  yet  the  services  were  mainly  in  the  English  lan 
guage — the  sermon  certainly  was,  as  it  was  preached  by 
myself- — led  by  a  choir  of  which  Mr.  Journeycake's 
family  was  a  prominent  part,  his  own  daughter  being 
chorister  and  organist.  The  hymns  sung  were  selections 
from  the  Baptist  Hymn  and  Tune  Book  of  our  Publica 
tion  Society.  The  prayer  of  dedication  was  offered  by 
Bro.  Jones,  and  then  a  second  prayer  by  Bro.  Journey- 
cake,  in  the  Delaware  language  for  the  sake  of  a  few  of 
the  older  Indians  who  had  never  yet  learned  to  under 
stand  the  English,  closed  the  impressive  services. 

On  the  following  day  services  were  held  with  reference 
to  the  ordination  of  Bro.  Journeycake  to  the  ministry. 


58  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

He  had  long  been  regarded  as  the  spiritual  leader  of  his 
people,  as  he  had  been  as  chief  in  temporal  affairs,  lie 
had  been  active  in  speaking  and  praying,  conducting 
worship  and  expounding  the  Scriptures,  and  had  also 
compiled  a  hymn  book  in  the  Delaware  tongue,  and  I 
believe  had  also  translated  several  works  for  his  people  that 
had  been  published  for  them  by  the  Tract  and  Bible  so 
cieties.  But  it  was  now  believed  that  the  time  had  come 
when  he  should  be  yet  more  prominently  and  formally 
put  forward  as  the  leader  of  this  flock.  Brothers  Jones 
and  Pratt  conducted  the  examination,  and  my  recollec 
tion  is  that,  notwithstanding  many  of  their  questions 
would  have  puzzled  many  a  more  disciplined  mind,  even 
a  graduate  from  the  college  and  seminary,  yet  all  the 
answers  were  eminently  satisfactory.  Mr.  Jones  preached 
the  sermon,  Llr.  Pratt  offered  the  prayer  of  ordination, 
and  I  gave  the  charge  and  hand  of  fellowship,  and  all 
the  people  said,  "  Amen." 

But,  perhaps,  I  should  claim  that  the  third  and  last 
was  the  chief  and  great  day  of  the  feast.  There  had 
been  for  quite  a  time  a  deep  religious  interest  prevailing 
among  the  Indian  people.  Congregations  had  been  large 
and  attentive  and  a  goodly  number  had  professed  faith 
and  conversion  and  were  now  desiring  baptism.  It  was 
this  state  of  things  that  had  especially  made  Mr.  Jour- 
neycake's  ordination  desirable,  in  order  that  he  might  not 
only  preach  to  them,  but  administer  ordinances  also. 
Now  the  people  had  both  a  completed  and  dedicated 
house  of  worship  and  an  ordained  and  installed  pastor. 
Nothing  more  seemed  to  be  lacking.  They  now  gathered 
for  a  third  day's  service  that  should  be  all  their  own. 
We  who  were  visitors  now  took  the  rear.  Bro.  Journey- 
cake  preached  and  the  people  sang,  all  in  their  Indian 
vernacular.  Oh,  it  was  spirited,  spiritual,  and  inspiring. 
There  was  at  the  conclusion  a  call  for  inquirers,  and  then 
followed  a  season  of  special  prayer,  and  then  all  ad 
journed  to  the  waterside  at  the  creek  near  by.  Prayers 
were  here  offered  and  songs  sung  in  the  Delaware  Ian- 


DEDICATION    AND    ORDINATION  59 

guage,  and  then  the  pastor  led  fifteen  rejoicing  converts, 
one  after  the  other,  down  into  the  water,  and  there,  into 
the  name  of  the  Trinity  he  baptized  them.  Yes,  it  was  a 
joyful  hour!  Few  more  joyful,  we  thought,  we  had  ever 
seen  on  earth. 

We  parted  at  this  waterside.  It  was  never  my  lot 
again  to  meet  Bro.  Journeycake.  He  and  his  matronly 
Christian  wife  are  gone.  Bro.  Jones  has  gone  to  his 
rest,  and  before  long  the  remaining  two  of  those  con 
spicuous  in  these  delightful  services  will  have  passed 
away,  but  passed  away,  with  the  others,  we  trust,  to 
services  yet  more  delightful  than  any  ever  known  on 
earth. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  the  writer  of  these  pages  to  have 
so  full  an  account  of  these  epochal  events  from  one  who 
was  both  an  eye-witness  and  a  rejoicing  participant. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PHENOMENAL    GROWTH 

THE  reader  will  recall  the  accounts  in  former  chapters 
of  the  slow  growth  in  the  religious  development  of  the 
Delawares  during  the  forty  years  of  their  settlement  in 
Kansas.  At  the  same  time  he  will  recall  what  was  said 
of  the  unmistakable  marks  of  a  deep-seated  religious 
impression  among  the  leaders,  especially  Mr.  Journey- 
cake  and  his  family.  The  religious  work  of  Mr.  Journey- 
cake  during  this  long  period  must,  for  the  most  part, 
remain  unrecorded.  After  the  removal  to  the  new  settle 
ments  in  the  Territory,  the  means  of  determining  more 
fully  his  strong  religious  activity  was  at  hand.  With  the 
engrossing  responsibilities  of  leadership  in  settling  claims 
against  the  government,  and  in  the  selection  of  homes,  as 
well  as  the  care  of  a  considerable  property,  one  would 
hardly  look  for  public  activity  in  religious  work.  Yet, 
at  the  end  of  1872,  scarcely  four  years  from  the  time  of 
beginning  the  transfer  from  Kansas,  we  find  him  with  a 
church  of  about  a  hundred  members,  all  or  nearly  all  of 
them  converted  Indians,  a  comfortable  meeting-house, 
dedicated  and  paid  for,  and  Mr.  Journeycake  himself 
ordained  and  installed  as  pastor.  We  find  him  too  in 
the  midst  of  a  sweeping  revival ;  and  with  every  evidence 
that  his  desire  for  the  salvation  of  his  people  is  the  domi- 
60 


PHENOMENAL    GROWTH  61 

nant  element  in  his  heart  and  life.  The  period  of  slow 
growth  has  been  a  period  of  seed-sowing  and  foundation- 
laying,  to  be  followed  by  a  reaping  time  and  rapid  growth. 
The  baptisms  for  the  ten  years  succeeding  the  organiza 
tion  of  the  Delaware  Church — 1871  to  1880— under  the 
pastorate  of  Mr.  Journeycake,  will  well  show  this.1  There 
is  evidence  in  this  annual  increase  of  a  sustained  religious 
interest.  During  this  period  also  a  number  of  strong 
religious  characters  came  forward  among  the  Delaware 
people.  Nearly  all  of  the  two  hundred  and  sixty-six 
converts  of  the  decade  were  Delawares.  The  Delaware 
Church  and  its  devoted  pastor  became  a  mighty  influence 
for  good  over  a  wide  range  of  country. 

October  18,  1873,  meetings  were  begun  on  the  Caney 
River,  thirty  miles  west  of  Lightning  Creek,  and  a  strong 
branch  of  the  church  was  established  there  and  main 
tained  as  such  for  many  years.  The  experiences  and 
phases  of  church  life  among  these  converted  Indians 
were  in  all  respects  similar  to  those  which  are  often  wit 
nessed  in  white  churches.  A  very  brief  sketch  only  can 
here  be  "given  of  the  history  of  this  Delaware  Church, 
but  it  will  be  found  to  justify  the  foregoing  remark. 

March  8,  1876,  the  meeting-house  was  destroyed  by  a 
tornado,  leaving  the  church  again  without  a  place  of 

1  The  baptisms  for  each  of  the  ten  consecutive  years  were  as 
follows:  for  1871,  11;  1872,108;  1873,33;  1874,36;  1875,7;  1876, 
12;  1877,  14;  1878,  33;  1879,  10;  and  in  1880,  2;  making  a  grand 
total  of  266  baptisms  in  ten  years,  an  average  of  26  and  over 
for  each  year. 


62  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

worship.  The  day  of  adversity  followed  the  day  of  pros 
perity.  Three  days  later,  at  a  meeting  held  at  the  Light 
ning  Creek  schoolhouse,  it  is  recorded  that  "  much  re 
vival  spirit  was  manifested."  It  was  not  crushed  out  by 
reverses.  The  struggle  to  replace  the  meeting-house, 
however,  was  a  long  and  tedious  one.  On  the  llth  of 
November,  1877,  a  year  and  eight  months  after  the 
cyclone,  "  it  was  voted,  unanimously,  to  build  again,  and 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  carry  out  the  resolution." 
But  it  was  not  until  May,  1879,  that  the  new  house  was 
ready  for  occupancy.  During  all  that  time,  however, 
there  was  a  good  degree  of  the  revival  spirit  in  the 
church,  despite  the  inconvenience  of  being  without  a 
church  building.  May  9,  1879,  the  new  house  was 
dedicated  with  appropriate  services,  conducted  by  Rev. 
Daniel  Rogers,  then  of  Tahlequah,  general  missionary 
for  the  Indian  Territory,  and  Rev.  D.  King,  of  Kansas. 

The  great  revival  among  the  Delawares  suggests 
another  reflection,  and  conveys  a  lesson  worthy  of  record. 
God  often  gives  his  people  grace  to  prepare  for  approach 
ing  calamity,  and  even  death — to  bear  up  under  the  one, 
and  to  meet  with  fortitude  the  other.  The  removal  of 
these  people  to  the  Territory,  and  their  changed  condi 
tions,  were  attended  with  very  great  mortality.  The 
death-rate  among  them  for  the  first  few  years  was  some 
thing  appalling.  It  is  not  too  much  to  believe  that  in 
the  rich  provisions  of  God's  grace,  these  wonderful 
showers  of  divine  mercy  were  sent,  and  a  great  number 
converted,  as  a  preparation  for  their  speedy  departure, 


PHENOMENAL    GROWTH  63 

and  a  means  of  sustaining  those  who  remained  in  the 
severe  afflictions  awaiting  them.  From  the  imperfect 
records  available  it  appears  that  of  the  first  two  hundred 
members  of  the  church,  seventy-one,  or  over  one- third, 
had  been  taken  away  by  death  in  twenty  years. 

The  usual  sequences  of  a  great  revival  were  not  want 
ing.  The  reaction  from  a  high  religious  tension  came. 
A  number  made  shipwreck  of  the  faith,  and  others  grew 
cold  and  backslidden.  Discipline  became  a  necessity, 
and  there  are  evidences  of  a  good  degree  of  faithfulness 
and  efficiency  along  this  line.  Of  those  received  during 
the  first  ten  years  the  records  show  over  thirty  exclusions 
at  the  end  of  another  decade. 

The  church  was  from  the  beginning  a  missionary 
church.  January  13,  1877,  we  find  the  first  mention  of 
a  Sunday-school,  and  a  collection  of  five  dollars  taken 
toward  the  purchase  of  a  library.  But  a  year  earlier, 
January,  1876,  it  was  voted  to  raise  two  hundred 
dollars  as  pastor's  salary,  and  all  through  the  records  is 
noticed  frequent  mention  of  collections  for  the  benefit  of 
the  church  and  for  missionary  objects. 

The  second  decade  of  the  church's  life  shows  a  very 
great  decline  in  spirituality  and  religious  activity.  In 
1889  and  1890  there  was  another  revival,  but  under  such 
changed  conditions  that  it  can  scarcely  be  called  a  work 
of  or  among  the  Indians.  So  many  white  people  have 
drifted  into  the  settlements  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
recent  members  gathered  in  are  transient  whites — they 
cannot  be  called  settlers  in  the  true  sense,  for  they  have 


64  THE   INDIAN   CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

no  permanent  homes,  and  add  very  little  strength  to  the 
church. 

In  the  meantime  Pastor  Journeycake  had  become  so 
enfeebled  as  to  be  practically  superannuated,  and  though 
the  church  still  maintains  its  existence,  it  has  not  its  old- 
time  vigor,  nor  does  it  give  evidence  of  a  return  to  its 
former  prosperity. 


Mr.  Journeycake  at  the  time  of  his  first  visit  to  Washington. 
Page  65. 


CHAPTER  XII 

PUBLIC   AND    PRIVATE   LIFE 

IN  1854  Mr.  Journey  cake  made  his  first  visit  to  Wash 
ington,  when  he  was  thirty-seven  years  of  age.  It  was 
one  year  prior  to  his  becoming  chief  of  the  Wolf  Clan, 
and  seven  years  before  he  became  principal  chief.  It 
was  at  this  time  that  "the  influx  of  white  settlers  into 
Kansas  was  so  great  that  it  became  evident  the  Indian 
reservations  there  could  not  be  kept  intact,  and  the  Dela- 
wares  made  a  large  cession  of  their  lands  to  the  United 
States,  to  be  restored  to  the  public  domain."  It  was  doubt 
less  about  this  treaty  of  cession  that  he  made  the  trip  to 
Washington.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the  leading  part 
borne  by  him  in  the  affairs  of  his  tribe  with  the  govern 
ment,  which  continued  till  the  end  of  his  life.  He  visited 
the  capital  not  less  than  twenty-four  times  in  the  interest 
of  his  people,  usually  remaining  for  weeks,  and  confer 
ring  with  leading  men  in  Congress  and  in  the  several 
departments,  whom  he  enlisted  in  behalf  of  the  interests 
of  which  he  was  in  charge,  and  whose  friendship  he  won 
and  retained.  He  also  visited  the  principal  cities  of  the 
East,  and  learned  much  of  men  and  things.  He  was  a 
man  of  peculiarly  just  views  as  to  both  morals  and  re 
ligion,  and  as  to  the  sanctity  of  the  marriage  relation  his 
views  were  very  rigid.  He  had  witnessed  the  transition 

65 


66  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOUENEYCAKE 

of  his  people  from  a  condition  of  barbarism  to  one  of 
civilization  in  this  respect  as  well  as  others,  and  it  caused 
him  great  distress  when  any  of  them  manifested  looseness 
in  regard  to  it.  He  was  rigid  in  regard  to  religious  obli 
gations.  He  had  a  just  sense  of  salvation  by  Christ.  He 
used  to  say  frequently  in  devotional  meetings:  "My 
people  used  to  have  a  religion ;  they  worshiped  the 
Great  Spirit,  and  observed  many  ceremonies,  but  they 
did  not  know  Jesus."  Again  he  would  say :  "  It  used  to 
be  said  that  Jesus  was  the  white  man's  Saviour,  that  he 
was  not  suited  to  the  red  man.  But  I  know,"  he  would 
say,  "  that  he  has  saved  one  Indian."  Any  swerving  of 
his  people  from  their  religious  obligations  caused  him 
great  concern,  and  he  was  urgent  in  his  exhortations  to 
integrity  of  life  and  to  abstinence  from  all  irregularities. 

As  age  drew  on,  his  exhortations  to  his  church  to  return 
to  their  former  love  were  tender  and  touching.  "  Oh,  my 
children !  "  he  would  say — but  it  is  impossible  to  transfer 
to  the  printed  page  the  pathos  and  fervor  of  his  loving 
appeals.  Oh,  that  the  reading  of  these  pages  might  be 
blessed  of  God  to  the  hearts  of  his  descendants,  that  the 
memory  of  his  fervent  piety  might  cause  them  to  turn  to 
God,  and  seek  to  fill  up  that  which  is  behind  of  the  in 
fluence  of  this  devoted  Christian. 

The  writer  of  these  pages  has  often  thought,  while 
listening  to  his  earnest  words  and  witnessing  his  tears 
and  deep  anxiety  for  the  religious  welfare  of  his  people, 
of  Joshua,  the  grand  old  Hebrew  commander.  It  is  said 
that  "  Israel  served  the  Lord  all  the  days  of  Joshua,  and 


PUBLIC   AND   PRIVATE    LIFE  67 


all  the  days  of  the  elders  that  outlived  Joshua." 
alas!  after  the  influence  of  these  devoted  servants  of  God 
had  ceased  from  among  them,  what  evils  sprang  up,  and 
what  backslidings.  Of  Israel  and  of  the  Delawares  alike 
may  this  be  said.  The  remnant  of  the  latter  noble  race 
never  needed  the  prayers  and  fostering  care  of  the  Chris 
tian  people  of  America  more  than  now.  They  have  the 
same  needs  that  we  have,  and  should  be  held  to  obedience 
to  God's  requirements  the  same  as  ourselves. 

The  following  testimonial  to  the  life  and  character  of 
Chief  Journeycake  is  from  Rev.  J.  S.  Murrow,  D.  D., 
general  missionary  to  the  Indians,  of  the  American  Baptist 
Home  Mission  Society,  who  has  labored  in  the  Indian 
Territory  for  over  thirty-seven  years,  and  who  has  studied 
regenerate  Indian  character  as  have  few  other  men.  We 
give  his  letter  in  full  : 

ATOKA,  IND.  TER.,  Sep.  27,  1894. 
Your  kind  letter  requesting  my  impressions  of  the  life 
and  character  of  Rev.  Charles  Journeycake  is  just  at 
hand.  I  regret  that  limited  time  will  prevent  me  from 
writing  as  fully  and  as  carefully  as  the  subject  merits.  I 
leave  to-morrow  for  the  Delaware  Association,  one  of  the 
fruits  of  Brother  Journeycake's  life  and  labors.  I  was 
not  intimately  associated  with  Brother  Journeycake  in 
mission  work.  My  field  has  been  with  tribes  living  south 
of  the  Delawares.  But  Brother  Journeycake's  influence 
was  not  confined  to  his  own  tribe,  hence  I  may  truthfully 
say  that  I  knew  him  well.  He  was  a  remarkable  man  — 
o  ne  of  the  old-time  noble  red  men.  God  endowed  him  with 
talents  for  leadership,  and  he  well  performed  his  mission. 
His  strong  will-power,  patriotism,  and  excellent  judgment 
held  his  people  from  disintegration  and  destruction.  In 
all  their  treaties  with  the  general  government,  and  with 


68 

the  Cherokees,  Chief  Journeycake's  good  judgment  and 
sound  statesmanship  were  employed  unselfishly  in  secur 
ing  the  best  interests  of  his  people.  It  can  never  be  said 
of  him,  as  it  may  be  truthfully  said  of  many  of  the  lead 
ing  men  in  these  Indian  tribes,  that  he  "  sold  out "  the 
interests  of  his  nation  for  selfish  gain.  No  man  among 
his  people  can  truthfully  say  that  he  was  wronged  by 
Chief  Journeycake. 

As  a  Christian  and  a  minister  of  the  gospel  he  exerted 
fully  as  great  an  influence  for  good  upon  his  people  as  he 
did  as  chief  and  statesman.  He  was  very  deliberate  in 
arriving  at  conclusions.  His  opinions  were  therefore 
rarely  erroneous,  and  when  once  formed  he  was  as  firm 
as  a  rock  in  maintaining  them.  Nothing  could  turn  him 
from  a  course  which  he  believed  to  be  right.  I  once 
witnessed  an  instance  of  these  characteristics.  Brother 
Journeycake  attended  one  of  our  Territorial  conventions. 
A  distinguished  D.  D.  from  an  adjoining  State  was  also 
present.  He  cordially  invited  Brother  Journeycake  to 
attend  the  convention  of  his  State.  He  stated  that  such 
a  visit  would  do  great  good  in  arousing  an  interest  in 
Indian  mission  work.  Brother  Journeycake  excused 
himself  for  some  time,  while  the  other  persistently  urged 
him  with  many  arguments  and  much  persuasion  to  accept. 
Finally  Brother  Journeycake  dropped  his  head  and  was 
lost  in  thought  for  several  moments.  On  looking  up  he 
spoke  with  a  degree  of  firmness  that  evidently  meant  that 
no  further  persuasion  would  affect  him :  "  I  never  go  any 
where  simply  for  pleasure.  My  presence  might  arouse 
considerable  enthusiasm  at  your  great  meeting,  but  it 
would  soon  pass  away  like  a  gust  of  wind.  It  would  not 
result  in  any  permanent  good.  Hence,  while  I  thank 
vou  heartilv  for  your  kind  invitation  I  will  not  accept 
it." 

Brother  Journeycake's  faith  in  God's  providential  care 
was  very  strong,  yet  childlike.  A  few  years  ago  he 
attended  a  commencement  at  Indian  University.  A 
number  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  were  sitting  in  the  recep- 


PUBLIC   AND   PEIVATE   LIFE  69 

tion  room  engaged  in  conversation.     Among  them  was 
Brother    Journeycake.      A   very   literary   lady   present 
asked  Brother  Journeycake  to  relate  seme  incidents  of 
his  life.     Being  a  very  modest  man,  he  replied  that  there 
was  nothing  in  his  life  worth  relating,  except  God's  good 
ness  and  grace.     He  was  pressed  for  the  story  of  his  con 
version  or  some  incidents  of  his  life  as  a  Christian  or  as 
chief  of  his  people.     Dropping  his  head  for  a  moment, 
he  replied,  very  simply  and   childlike:    "The  incident 
that  is  freshest  in  my  memory  is  God's  goodness  in  pro 
viding  the  means  for  me  to  come  to  this  commencement. 
I  believed  that  as  one  of  the  trustees  I  ought  to  come, 
for  I  think  a  great  deal  of  this  school,  and  earnestly 
desire  to  see  it  prosper.     I  did  not  have  sufficient  ready 
money  to  bring  me  here,  so  I  asked  the  Lord  to  help  me 
get  the  money.     Yesterday  he  sent  a  neighbor  to  pay  me 
some  borrowed  money,  and  now  I  am  here."     Brother 
Journeycake  was  a  man  of  plenty  of  means  of  his  own, 
and  could  command  all  he  wanted  'otherwise ;  but  instead 
of  going  to  the  merchants  he  went  to  God,  as  was  his 
custom.    The  conversion  and  Christian  life  and  character 
of  such  Indians  as  Charles  Journeycake,  Delaware  ;  Jesse 
Bushyhead,  Cherokee;  John  Jumper,  Seminole;  Joseph 
Islands,  Muskogee ;  Peter  Folsom,  Choctaw ;  and  hosts  of 
other  Indian  men  of  great  mental  and  spiritual  endow 
ments,  men  who  would  have  been  leaders  in  any  land, 
afford  indisputable  evidence  that,  had  the  Christian  civil 
ization   and   education  of  the  Indians  been   prosecuted 
a  hundred  years  ago,  as  it  should  have  been,  the  Indian 
problem  would  long  ago  have  been  settled  creditably  to 
the  government  and  people  of  the  United  States.     It  is 
not  yet  too  late  to  atone  in  some  measure  for  the  wrongs 
inflicted  upon  this  race.     The  feeble  force  of  Christian 
missionaries  among  the  Indians  should  be  -increased,  and 
the  Christian  schools  founded  for  their  uplifting  should 
be  adequately  endowed.    This  would  atone,  to  some  extent 
at  least,  for  the  last  "  Century  of  Dishonor." 

Sincerely,  J.  S.  MURROW. 


70  THE   INDIAN   CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

The  foregoing  testimony  from  Dr.  Murrow,  as  to  the 
public  and  private  life  of  Chief  Journey  cake,  corresponds 
with  the  verdict  of  all  who  knew  him  well,  and  it  has 
been  a  great  pleasure  to  incorporate  it  in  this  book. 
May  the  character  portrayed  be  reproduced  in  many 
readers. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

OLD   AGE   AND   CHANGED   CONDITIONS 

THE  weight  of  years  was  beginning  to  tell  upon  the 
Delaware  chief  when  the  writer  of  these  pages  first  met 
and  knew  him.  He  had  always  preached  to  his  people 
in  their  native  dialect  and  with  keenest  enjoyment  both 
to  himself  and  to  them.  But  now  a  great  change  had 
come  in  the  situation.  So  many  white  people  had  come 
into  the  territory  that  there  had  come  to  be  as  many  or 
more  whites  in  the  congregation  and  even  in  the  church 
than  Indians.  Moreover,  most  of  the  Indians  could  un 
derstand  the  English  language  as  well  as  their  own,  and 
many  of  the  younger  of  the  tribe  could  scarcely  under 
stand  their  mother  tongue  at  all.  Mrs.  Journeycake  had 
come  to  lament  that  she  had  not  learned  to  speak  and 
understand  English  better  when  she  was  younger.  "  For," 
she  said,  "my  grandchildren  are  growing  up  to  speak 
English  and  cannot  understand  me."  She,  and  all  the 
middle-aged  and  older  Indians  always  conversed  in  their 
own  language  in  their  homes  and  social  intercourse,  and 
likewise  in  the  meetings  of  the  church. 

In  these  changed  conditions  the  demand  had  arisen 
for  English  preaching.  The  services,  conducted  in  the 
Indian  language,  could  no  longer  meet  the  imperative 
demands  of  the  field.  Mr.  Journeycake,  though  he  could 

71 


72  THE   INDIAN   CHIEF,  JOUKNEYCAKE 

converse  in  our  language  pretty  well,  and  could  use  it 
in  public  address"  to  some  extent,  yet  felt  that  he  could 
not  longer  carry  the  burden  of  the  pastoral  leadership  of 
his  flock.  His  mind  worked  very  slowly  in  our  language, 
though  he  was  fluent  in  his  own ;  besides,  the  infirmities 
of  age  forbade  the  arduous  work  to  which  he  had  been 
accustomed.  This,  then,  was  the  situation  when,  in  1890, 
the  writer  received  an  appointment  from  the  Home  Mis 
sion  Society  as  missionary  to  the  Delawares  and  white 
people  at  Al-lu-we  and  vicinity,  and  to  be  acting  pastor 
of  the  Delaware  Church,  or  assistant  pastor  as  they  chose 
to  designate  the  relation.  Elder  Journeycake  was  still 
pastor  and  would  remain  so  as  long  as  he  lived.  In 
what  follows  will  be  seen  an  illustration  and  a  test  of  the 
real  character  of  this  noble  patriarch  and  Christian. 

It  is  well  known  that  in  all  our  churches  a  retired 
minister  remaining  on  the  field  where  he  has  reluctantly 
laid  down  his  work  needs  a  large  measure  of  grace  to 
accept  the  situation  and  be  a  help  rather  than  a  hindrance 
to  his  successor,  who  on  his  part  needs  grace  as  well.  In 
the  case  of  Mr.  Journeycake  the  test  was  a  peculiarly 
severe  one.  The  pastor  was  an  Indian,  with  all  the  native 
love  for  his  own  race  and  with  the  memory  of  a  phe 
nomenally  successful  ministry  of  years  among  them.  He 
had  a  keen  recollection  of  the  messages  delivered  and 
songs  sung  in  his  own  loved  dialect.  His  place  was  now 
to  be  filled  by  a  white  man,  speaking  in  another  language ; 
the  spiritual  condition  of  the  church  was  low ;  the  uplift 
ing  scenes  of  the  revivals  of  former  years  were  only  a 


OLD   AGE   AND   CHANGED   CONDITIONS  73 

recollection.  Would  the  aged  pastor  cheerfully  accept 
the  situation  and  give  hearty  sympathy  and  support? 
Some  effort  had  been  made  before  to  maintain  services 
in  English,  but  with  very  limited  success. 

Such  was  the  situation  when,  in  the  last  days  of  Octo 
ber,  1890,  the  writer  entered  the  neighborhood  and  the 
home  of  Chief  Journeycake,  and  was  introduced  to  the 
venerable  pastor  of  the  Delaware  Church.  It  was  a  diffi 
cult  undertaking,  and  was  not  an  eminent  success ;  but 
the  writer  is  glad  to  be  able  to  record  in  this  way,  that 
during  his  entire  stay  upon  this  field  Brother  Journey- 
cake's  co-operation,  sympathy,  and  cordial  support  were 
all  that  could  be  desired.  He  was  eminently  considerate 
of  all  the  rights  of  his  pastor,  for  such  he  recognized  me 
to  be  in  the  fullest  sense.  He  was  exceedingly  careful 
not  to  infringe  in  any  way  upon  any  prerogative,  and 
was  unalterable  in  his  friendship  to  the  last.  During  the 
period  of  our  intercourse  the  one  dominant  desire  of  his 
life  was  the  interest  of  the  church  which  he  had  served 
so  well.  There  were  many  evidences  of  a  decline  in  its 
power  and  influence,  and  this  gave  him  great  uneasiness. 
When  there  would  appear  any  awakening  of  interest,  his 
joy  would  at  once  appear.  He  delighted  to  visit,  with 
the  new  pastor,  the  distant  parts  of  the  field,  driving  his 
own  good  team,  and  to  send  his  team  when  for  any  reason 
he  could  not  go.  Naturally  reticent  and  undemonstrative, 
he  nevertheless  often  became  quite  communicative,  and  in 
his  own  deliberate  way  related  the  events  of  his  life  and 
the  history  of  his  people. 


74  THE    INDIAN   CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

The  experiences  of  his  eventful  life  had  given  him  much 
occasion  to  suspect  the  sincerity  of  the  whites,  and  some 
times  a  shade  of  this  distrust  would  manifest  itself.  But 
he  had  a  lively  appreciation  of  the  benefits  that  had  come 
to  him  and  his  people  through  Christian  civilization,  and 
he  was  much  more  ready  to  speak  of  this  and  of  the  ever- 
present  boon  which  the  white  missionaries  had  brought, 
in  the  gospel  of  Christ.  To  this  personal  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  Mr.  Journeycake,  may  at  this  point  be 
added  testimonials  from  those  who  knew  him  well. 

Rev.  David  Crosby,  for  some  time  professor  in  Indian 
University,  and  afterward  pastor  of  the  Baptist  church 
at  Muskogee,  I.  T.,  writes  as  follows  : 

Rev.  Charles  Journeycake  was  in  every  sense  a  Chris 
tian  gentleman,  always  affable  and  obliging.  In  the 
home  social  circle,  in  the  church,  and  in  business  he  was 
the  same  true  man  and  friend.  One  cannot  conceive, 
after  knowing  him,  of  his  doing  a  mean,  scarcely  in  any 
sense,  a  selfish  act.  He  was  loyal  to  his  Saviour ;  and 
being  loyal  to  him,  he  revered  his  truth.  It  was  indeed 
a  great  pleasure  to  hear  him  talk  of  Christ  and  his  work. 
One  of  the  greatest  pleasure  of  my  life  was  to  attend  a 
week's  meeting  in  which  this  aged  Christian  was  inter 
ested,  and  to  assist  him  in  baptizing  about  forty  converts. 
His  whole  heart  was  in  the  work.  He  loved  his  people, 
he  loved  his  church,  and  above  all  he  loved  his  Lord  and 
Master.  He  was  exceptionally  kind  to  the  poor.  Never 
did  the  needy  go  from  his  door  empty-handed.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  warm  receptions  he  gave  me.  I  shall 
never  forget  that  straight,  slim,  nervous  form.  I  shall 
never  forget  that  kind  face  and  gentle  voice.  Father 
Journeycake  was  a  great  man,  in  real  Christian  man 
hood  ;  great  in  his  uplifting  influence  among  his  people. 


OLD   AGE   AND   CHANGED   CONDITIONS  75 

It  is  indeed  sad  to  lose  such — a  loss  to  earth,  and  a  gain 
to  heaven.  D.  CROSBY. 

In  such  tributes  as  this  the  present  writer  can  most 
fully  concur.  How  vividly,  as  I  read  these  descriptions, 
his  remarkable  personality  rises  before  me.  The  kind 
face,  the  gentle  voice,  the  erect  frame,  the  strong,  nervy 
movements,  and  the  unswerving  piety  of  the  man,  are  all 
most  real  images  before  my  mind.  When  we  remember 
that  this  character,  so  majestic  and  beautiful,  was  evolved 
by  the  influence  of  Christianity  and  the  power  of  divine 
grace,  from  a  condition  of  barbarism,  in  a  single  life 
time  and  under  conditions  such  as  our  treatment  of  the 
Indian  has  imposed,  it  is  surely  worthy  of  more  than  a 
passing  notice.  It  furnishes  another  instance  of  that  prac 
tical  proof  so  much  better  than  any  amount  of  theory. 

The  following  official  testimonial  will  complete  this 
chapter.  At  the  annual  meeting  in  June,  1894,  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Indian  University,  of  which  Mr. 
Journeycake  had  been  for  many  years  a  member,  it  was 
unanimously 

Resolved,  That  in  view  of  the  removal  to  his  heavenly 
rest,  since  our  last  annual  meeting,  of  Eev.  Charles 
Journeycake,  a  member  of  this  Board  since  its  organiza 
tion,  we  desire  to  place  on  record  our  high  appreciation 
of  the  noble  Christian  character  of  our  departed  brother, 
and  our  sense  of  the  great  loss  to  his  family,  to  his  tribe, 
and  to  this  territory,  as  well  as  to  the  church  and  to  this 
institution,  which  his  decease  has  entailed.  A  good  and 
righteous  man,  an  earnest  and  consistent  Christian,  and 
a  loving  and  constant  friend,  has  been  removed  from  our 


76  THE   INDIAN   CHIEF,  JOUKNEYCAKE 

midst.     His  rest  is  glorious.     To  his  family  especially 

we  tender  our  sincere  sympathy. 

By  order  of  the  Board. 

S.  H.  MITCHELL 

A.  C.  BACONE,      [  Committee. 

W.  P.  KING, 


CHAPTER  XIV 

ANOTHER   TESTIMONIAL 

IT  is  no  purpose  of  the  writer  of  these  pages  to  make  a 
hero  of  his  subject,  Dor  to  heap  upon  him  undue  praise. 
But  as  a  representative  of  what  a  Christian  civilization 
can  do  for  a  noble,  but  much-  abused  race,  it  seems  right 
to  gather  about  Chief  Journeycake  such  an  array  of 
historic  testimony  as  will  exhibit  the  strong  points  of  his 
character  in  an  unmistakable  light.  This  can  best  be 
done  by  giving  the  independent  testimony  of  such  men  as 
Dr.  G.  J.  Johnson,  J.  S.  Murrow,  D.  D.,  David  Crosby, 
and  others,  whose  study  of  his  character  and  influence  was 
made  under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  each  being 
unaffected  by  the  representations  of  the  others. 

The  following  "Reminiscences"  are  from  the  pen  of 
Rev.  Daniel  Rogers,  D.  D.,  who  was  General  Missionary 
to  the  Indian  Territory  five  and  a  half  years,  1876  to  1882 : 

My  first  acquaintance  with  Rev.  Charles  Journeycake 
was  in  September,  1876.  I  had  then  but  recently  entered 
upon  my  work  as  missionary  to  the  Cherokees,  including 
the  Delawares,  who  had  been  adopted  as  citizens  of  the 
Cherokee  nation.  It  was  my  privilege  to  meet  him  many 
times  after  this  while  a  missionary  to  the  Cherokees  and 
as  general  missionary  of  the  Baptist  Home  Mission 
Society  for  the  Territory.  I  always  received  a  cordial 
welcome  at  his  home.  I  frequently  preached  to  the 
Delawares,  and  on  such  occasions  Bro.  Journeycake 
usually  interpreted  for  me  into  the  language  of  his  people. 

77 


78  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

He  was  a  man  whom  I  learned  to  highly  esteem  for  his 
excellent  qualities  as  an  upright,  conscientious  man  and 
earnest,  devoted  Christian.  His  good  judgment,  wise 
counsel,  and  deep  interest  in  his  people,  made  him  a  trusted 
leader. 

Sitting  at  his  fireside,  after  long  rides  across  the  prairies 
to  his  home,  I  have  listened  with  much  interest  to  the 
recitals  of  his  Christian  experience,  his  exploits  in  hunt 
ing,  and  the  history  of  his  people. 

At  the  time  when  I  first  became  acquainted  with  him 
there  was  considerable  bitterness  of  feeling  between  some 
of  the  Cherokees  and  the  Delawares.  A  brother  of 
Charles  Journey  cake  had  been  killed,  and  attempts  had 
been  made  to  kill  other  prominent  leaders  among  the 
Delawares,  among  them  Charles,  who  was,  in  so  far  as 
their  tribal  relation  existed,  their  chief.  When  the  Del 
awares  had  been  adopted  as  citizens  of  the  Cherokee 
nation  they  had  purchased  a  tract  of  land  in  a  body  so 
that  they  might  be  located  near  each  other.  Afterward 
certain  Cherokees  claimed  a  considerable  portion  of  this 
land  on  the  ground  that  they  were  occupying  it  at  the 
time  that  the  Delawares  were  adopted  as  citizens,  and  so 
the  latter,  in  many  cases,  had  to  pay  for  their  land  the 
second  time  before  they  could  occupy  it  peaceably.  This 
they  considered  was  unjust.  They  appealed  to  the 
Cherokees  to  adjust  this  matter  on  such  a  basis  as  would 
be  fair  and  honorable.  Such  a  settlement  could  not  be 
effected.  The  Delaware  Baptist  Church  had  been  organ 
ized  in  the  year  1871  with  eleven  members.  God  had 
greatly  prospered  and  blessed  it  so  that,  at  the  time  of 
which  I  write,  it  numbered  two  hundred  and  twenty-six 
members.  But  for  the  Christian  spirit  in  this  church, 
which  restrained  from  retaliation,  there  would  have  been 
much  more  bitterness  of  spirit  and  more  bloodshed.  I  was 
impressed  with  the  spirit  of  Bro.  Journeycake  in  restrain 
ing  the  temper  that  would  at  times  arise  under  the  keen 
sense  of  wrong  that  seemed  to  be  inflicted  upon  them  by 
those  who  would  take  unlawful  advantage. 


ANOTHER   TESTIMONIAL  79 

Bro.  Journey  cake  was  a  very  thoughtful  man.  He 
took  time  to  consider  before  expressing  his  opinion.  One 
evening,  while  these  troubles  which  have  been  alluded  to 
were  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  the  Delawares,  a 
prominent  leader  among  the  Cherokees  was  passing 
through  that  part  of  the  Cherokee  nation  where  the  Del 
awares  resided.  Night  overtook  him  before  he  could 
reach  his  destination.  He  drew  near  to  the  house  of 
Charles  Journeycake.  He  did  not  like  to  travel  in  the 
night,  and  yet  he  was  not  sure  that  he  would  be  at  all 
welcomed  by  the  leader  of  a  people  that  felt  they  had 
been  wronged  by  the  Cherokees.  He  decided  that  it 
would  be  better  to  seek  lodging  than  to  proceed  farther. 
He  dismounted  and  went  to  the  door.  He  was  cordially 
received.  His  horse  was  cared  for  and  he  was  soon 
seated  at  the  warm,  cheerful  fireside.  After  supper  he 
ventured  during  the  conversation  to  ask  Mr.  Journeycake 
what  he  thought  of  the  Cherokees.  Silence  immediately 
followed  for  a  long  time.  He  feared  he  had  offended 
him  and  began  to  think  how  he  could  wisely  turn  the 
drift  of  conversation.  At  length  the  chief  raised  his 
head  and  said,  "Well,  the  Cherokees  are  like  a  bat: 
they  have  wings  like  a  bird,  but  they  are  not  a  bird ; 
they  have  teeth  like  a  coon,  but  they  are  not  a  coon." 
That  was  all  he  had  to  say. 

During  my  long  acquaintance  with  Bro.  Journeycake 
there  was  but  once  when  I  ever  saw  him  apparently 
deeply  agitated.  We  had  been  talking  for  a  long  time 
about  the  wrongs  which  the  Delawares  had  experienced 
from  the  United  States  government.  There  were  some 
claims  which  the  Delawares  had  upon  the  government 
and  which  had  been  acknowledged  and  declared  to  be 
just.  They  were  assured  that  they  should  receive  the 
compensation  that  was  decided  upon  in  a  short  time. 
Year  after  year  passed  and  still  this  compensation  could 
not  be  obtained.  They  felt  that  they  had  just  reason  to 
feel  indignant.  After  narrating  these  affairs  to  me  he 
arose  from  his  seat,  tall  and  straight  as  an  arrow,  his 


80 

whole  bearing  indicating  deep  feeling,  and,  said  he, 
"  The  white  man  has  lied."  Many  or  all  the  other  tribes 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  United  States  and  Terri 
tories  have  bad  experiences  which  would  justify  them  in 
making  the  same  statement.  Our  great  wonder  is  that 
more  of  the  Indians  in  our  country  have  not  fought  to 
the  death  a  people  who  have  so  basely  wronged  and  de 
frauded  them. 

On  the  12th  of  May,  1879,  it  was  my  privilege  to  be  at 
the  dedication  of  the  meeting-house  of  the  Delaware  Bap 
tist  Church.  At  that  time  it  was  the  finest  church  edi 
fice  in  the  Indian  Territory.  It  was  a  frame  building, 
fifty-two  feet  long,  thirty  feet  wide,  and  sixteen  feet  high. 
On  the  outside  it  was  weather-boarded  and  painted 
white ;  on  the  inside  plastered,  painted,  and  seated  with 
modern  pews.  Its  cost  was  two  thousand  five  hundred 
dollars.  A  few  years  before  they  had  built  a  neat  house 
of  worship,  costing  one  thousand  five  hundred  dollars,  but 
in  1876  it  was  completely  destroyed  by  a  cyclone.  The 
second  house  cost  a  great  struggle  and  much  self-denial 
on  the  part  of  many  in  the  church.  When  the  house  was 
completed  there  was  an  indebtedness  of  one  thousand  dol 
lars.  This  was  to  them  a  source  of  great  anxiety. 
About  three  hundred  people  were  present  at  the  ded 
icatory  services.  After  the  sermon,  which  it  was  my 
privilege  to  deliver  on  the  occasion,  a  statement  was  made 
setting  forth  the  indebtedness  of  the  church.  In  twenty- 
five  minutes  six  hundred  and  forty-six  dollars  was  pledged, 
quite  a  large  portion  of  which  was  paid  after  the  meeting, 
as  an  annual  payment  had  just  been  made  to  the  Dela- 
wares,  some  of  them  giving  the  entire  amount  they  had 
received.  A  collection  was  taken,  after  the  pledges  had 
been  made  to  the  amount  of  fifty-four  dollars,  making 
seven  hundred  dollars  in  all.  It  was  a  time  .of  rejoicing. 
In  the  afternoon  I  again  preached  to  a  congregation  of 
about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five,  after  which  the  or 
dinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  observed. 

As  a  people  the  Delawares  are  kind-hearted  and  peace- 


ANOTHER   TESTIMONIAL  81 

able.  I  recall  the  Dames  of  many  enterprising  and  in 
dustrious  farmers,  mechanics,  and  merchants.  The  homes 
of  many  are  pleasant  and  attractive.  Many  of  the  young 
people  are  attending  the  higher  schools  of  learning  and 
fitting  themselves  for  positions  of  usefulness  among  their 
people.  Quite  large  numbers  have  already  become  intel 
ligent  and  successful  teachers  and  business  men. 

Some  of  the  pleasantest  associations  of  my  work  in  the 
Indian  Territory  were  among  this  people.  The  conviction 
that  fastened  itself  upon  my  mind  was,  that  the  religion 
of  Jesus  Christ  makes  an  ]  ndian  a  better  man,  a  better 
neighbor  and  citizen,  just  as  truly  as  it  does  a  white  man. 
The  triumphs  of  God's  grace  through  a  personal  faith  in 
that  One  who  is  mighty  to  save  are  apparent  among  the 
Delaware  Indians.  I  have  seen  among  them  the  exempli 
fications  of  the  Christian  graces  in  their  lives  and  con 
duct,  and  in  their  interest  in  the  extension  of  the  Ke- 
deemer's  kingdom. 

It  has  been  noticed  that  Mr.  Journeycake,  during  his 
early  ministry,  preached  in  their  own  dialect  to  several 
tribes  besides  his  own.  His  influence  over  the  Shawnees, 
Wyandottes,  and  other  tribes,  was  salutary  and  strong. 
We  have  not  the  data  to  speak  in  detail  on  this  subject, 
but  the  following  incident,  related  by  him  to  the  writer 
and  fully  confirmed,  will  strikingly  illustrate  his  benefi 
cent  influence  over  other  Indian  peoples. 

Old  settlers  along  the  middle  Mississippi  will  remember 
the  Sac  and  Fox  chief,  Keokuk,  the  rival  of  Black  Hawk 
at  and  about  the  time  of  the  Black  Hawk  war.  Keokuk 
was  a  man  of  peace,  and  was  a  noble  specimen  of  the  red 
man  of  the  forest.  But  he  had  one  fatal  vice,  he  was  a 
drunkard,  and  so  lived  and  died.  His  son  and  successo"r, 
Moses  Keokuk  was  rapidly  following  in  his  footsteps. 


82  THE   INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

After  the  removal  of  the  Sac  and  Foxes  to  the  southwest, 
Chief  Journeycake  on  one  of  his  excursions  paid  a  visit 
to  the  younger  Keokuk  on  his  reservation.  He  had  a 
large  house,  well  furnished,  with  his  sideboard  well  supplied 
with  liquors,  and  he  and  his  braves  were  drinking  heavily 
and  fast  approaching  the  verge  of  ruin.  Chief  Journey- 
cake  was  a  strong  temperance  man,  and  was  so  impressed 
with  the  ruinous  course  that  Keokuk  was  pursuing  that 
he  took  him  aside,  and  gave  him  an  earnest  talk.  He 
tried  to  show  him  the  ruin  that  would  follow  to  himself, 
to  his  tribe,  and  to  everything  about  him.  Some  years 
after,  Mr.  Journeycake  received  a  call  from  Moses 
Keokuk  at  his  home.  The  Sac  and  Fox  chief  had  trav 
eled  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  to  ask  baptism  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Richardville,  a  Miami  Indian  and  a  Baptist  minister. 
He  told  Chief  Journeycake  that  he  remembered  his  good 
talk,  he  had  kept  it  in  his  heart,  had  become  a  Christian, 
and  that  for  years  he  had  totally  abstained  from  all  in 
toxicating  drinks. 

Some  three  years  ago,  in  1892,  the  present  writer  had 
correspondence  with  a  lady  who  was  teaching  a  govern 
ment  school  at  the  Sac  and  Fox  Agency  in  Oklahoma, 
•where  Moses  Keokuk  still  lives.  This  lady  knew  him 
well  and  confirmed  in  every  particular  the  above  account 
of  his  Christian  and  temperate  habits — that  he  has  not 
touched  a  drop  of  intoxicating  liquor  for  over  twenty 
years. 

"  A  brief  extract  from  the  letter  of  this  lady, — Miss  Har 
riet  A.  Patrick,— written  October  13,  1892,  will  be  of 


ANOTHER   TESTIMONIAL  83 

interest  as  illustrating  the  condition  of  many  of  the 
Indians  and  their  relation  to  the  white  people  settling 
among  them.  The  writer  was  laboring  at  the  time  in  the 
interest  of  the  Indian  University,  for  the  education  of 
teachers  and  preachers  among  the  Indians  of  their  own 
race,  and  seeking  information  that  might  be  useful  in 
that  work.  Miss  Patrick  had  an  interview  with  Moses 
Keokuk,  through  the  interpreter,  for  my  benefit,  and 
wrote  the  result  of  the  interview. 

First  Keokuk  spoke  of  Chief  Journey  cake  as  he  knew 
him  and  said: 

What  little  acquaintance  I  have  with  him,  I  have 
found  him,  and  1  also  believe  he  is  considered,  a  very 
good,  nice,  clever,  Christian  man.  He  came  here  about 
eight  years  ago ;  after  that  I  met  him  at  Washington 
twice.  He  was  there  doing  business  for  the  Delawares, 
and  I  was  there  for  my  people.  He  stands  well  with  his 
people,  and  they  have  a  great  respect  for  him.  I  think 
he  never  drinks. 

Keokuk  then  speaks  of  himself  as  follows. 

I  am  a  Baptist,  was  converted  at  this  agency  about 
thirteen  years  ago.  I  had  to  go  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  to  the  Ottawa  reservation  to  be  baptized.  I 
have  not  used  intoxicating  liquors  at  all  for  twenty  years. 

Then  speaking  of  the  condition  of  his  people,  he  says : 

The  school  here  is  far  better  than  it  was  a  few  years 
ago.  It  is  advancing  yearly.  The  people  are  much 
more  interested  in  having  their  children  educated,  and 
see  the  necessity  of  it.  The  children,  after  being  in 
school,  have  a  marked  influence  over  their  parents  and 


84  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

do  them  good.  The  Indians  are  progressing  rapidly  since 
they  have  taken  their  allotments.  Many  are  trying  to 
make  improvements  of  their  own  accord,  building  log 
houses,  using  stoves,  tilling  the  soil,  etc.  They  would  not 
advance  themselves  or  be  at  all  self-sustaining  without 
education  and  its  influence.  The  Indians  who  live 
neighbors  to  white  settlers  seem  to  be  benefited.  They 
watch  them  and  try  to  do  like  them.  I  think  the  settle 
ment  of  the  country  by  the  white  man  is  a  help  to  the 
Indian.  Our  tribe,  the  Sac  and  Fox,  numbers  about 
five  hundred  and  fifty. 

The  above  is  of  value  as  the  opinions  of  an  influential 
Indian  who  has  been  himself  benefited,  and  is  doing  all 
he  can  for  the  uplifting  of  his  race. 


I B 


Mrs.  Jane  Journey  cake. 
Page  85. 


CHAPTER  XV 

LAST    DAYS 

THE  following  brief  tribute1  to  the  memory  of  Mrs. 
Jane  Journey  cake,  wife  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir,  is 
fittingly  introduced  at  this  point : 

Mrs.  Jane  Journeycake  .  .  .  died  at  her  home  at 
Al-lu-we,  Indian  Territory,  January  13,  1893,  lacking 
one  month  of  seventy-two  years  of  age.  Her  father, 
Sylvester  Sosha,  was  a  Frenchman,  her  mother  a  Dela 
ware  Indian.  The  Delaware  people  removed  from  the 
Upper  Sandusky,  Ohio,  arriving  near  Leavenworth, 
Kansas,  about  1828.  In  May,  1838,  Jane  Sosha  was 
married  to  Charles  Journeycake,  and  the  same  year 
united  with  the  Baptist  church,  of  which  she  remained  a 
faithful  and  very  devoted  member  until  called  to  her 
well-earned  home  above.  Her  distinguished  piety  and 
influence,  with  that  of  her  devoted  husband,  marked  an 
instructive  era  in  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  Indian 
people  .  .  .  Mrs.  Journeycake's  life  was  a  benediction 
wherever  she  was  known.  Many  a  time  have  we  felt 
the  spiritual  uplift  of  her  prayers,  though  uttered 
in  her  own  native  tongue  as  they  were  we  could  not 
understand  a  word  except  that  precious  name  Jesus.  She 
breathed  such  a  spirit  of  fervent  devotion  as  made  her 
religion  a  conscious  power.  Though  she  had  been  for 
many  months  a  great  sufferer,  her  last  sickness  was  brief. 
For  most  of  this  time  she  lay  unconscious,  but  her  lucid 

1  What  is  here  said  is  in  substance  taken  from  an  article  by  the 
author  of  this  hook,  published  in  the  Home  Mission  Monthly, 
September,  1893. 

85 


86  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

moments  were  full  of  the  same  sweet  trust  that  had 
characterized  her  life.  It  had  been  her  habit  on  waking 
in  the  morning  to  utter  at  once  an  audible  prayer.  As 
if  waking  out  of  sleep  in  her  conscious  moments,  she 
would  be  heard  repeating  her  accustomed  prayer.  Once 
her  husband,  whom  she  preceded  to  the  silent  land  by 
less  than  a  year,  asked  her  if  she  would  like  to  hear  the 
hymn  they  had  often  sung  together.  She  answered 
"  Yes,"  and  her  daughter  writes,  "joined  him  in  such  a 
sweet  voice  all  through  the  hymn,  that  its  touching  ten 
derness  will  ever  be  remembered  by  all  who  were  present." 

One  who  had  known  her  from  the  beginning  of  her 
religious  life,  writes:  "It  is  hard  to  realize  that  she 
is  gone.  She  was  so  inseparable  in  the  family  group,  it 
is  still  a  habit  to  look  around  for  her  familiar  face.  We 
know  what  are  the  reflections  of  every  one  who  knew 
her  when  the  empty  seat  is  in  sight.  Our  only  consola 
tion  is  in  the  hope  of  meeting  her  in  the  '  better  land.' " 

When  we  remember  that  this  is  said  of  a  Christian 
Indian,  how  much  more  satisfactory  is  this  hope  than  the 
old  anticipation  of  the  "  happy  hunting  ground  "  and  its 
attendant  superstition.  .  .  May  her  virtues  be  imitated 
by  all  who  were  the  witnesses  of  her  gracious  life. 

The  Joss  of  such  a  companion  fell  with  stunning  effect 
upon  the  bereaved  husband.  Life  was  never  the  same 
with  him  after  the  separation.  He  had  so  long  been  in 
the  habit  of  counseling  with  her  upon  every  important 
matter,  and  she  had  been  such  a  prompt  and  strong  sup 
port  in  every  emergency,  that  the  most  important  factor 
had  gone  out  of  his  life.  The  writer  saw  him  but  once 
after  her  departure,  and  the  change  was  painful  to  witness. 
He  was  evidently  pining  away,  and  could  not  tarry 
long.  His  love  for  the  church  was  still  supreme.  Any 
thing  touching  its  interests  would  cause  him  to  brighten 

F 


Chief  Journeycake  in  his  Old  Age. 
Page  87. 


LAST   DAYS  87 

up  for  the  moment.  And  his  regard  for  his  friends  and 
love  for  his  family  and  his  people  were  unabating.  But 
he  seemed  living  in  a  distant  realm.  So  his  health  con 
tinued  to  decline.  His  step  faltered  and  became  un 
steady,  and  his  life  faded  away.  Almost  to  the  last  he 
sought  relief  in  his  old  pastime  of  hunting.  Something 
like  his  old  self  would  return  for  the  moment,  when  he 
would  mount  his  pony  and  seek  to  accompany  his  dogs 
in  the  chase.  But  in  these  passing  days  the  Lord  whom 
he  loved  was  preparing  him  for  the  release  which  came 
at  last,  January  3,  1894. 

Never  were  words  more  fitting  than  these  inscribed 
upon  his  tombstone  in  the  old  cemetery  at  Lightning 
Creek : 

Life's  labor  done,  as  sinks  the  day, 

Light  from  its  load  the  spirit  flies, 
While  heaven  and  earth  combine  to  say, 

How  blest  the  righteous  when  he  dies  ! 

Dear  is  the  spot  where  Christians  sleep, 
•*    And  sweet  the  strain  that  angels  pour ; 
O  !  why  should  we  in  anguish  weep, 
They  are  not  DEAD,  but  gone  before. 

It  is  said  that  when  Daniel  Webster's  body  lay  in 
state,  and  the  people  from  far  and  near  were  marching 
by  his  form,  a  neighbor  of  the  great  statesman,  a  brawny 
farmer,  in  the  plain  garb  of  his  class,  paused  for  a 
moment  as  he  passed  and  broke  out  in  full  tones  and 
with  deep  feeling,  "  Daniel  Webster,  the  world  will  be 
very  lonesome  without  you."  So  it  may  be  said  of  the 
large  district  of  country  where  our  brother  was  so  well 


THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

known.     It  must  be  very  lonesome  without  Grandfather 
Journey  cake. 

Dear  man  of  God,  what  wealth  of  grace 

"Was  in  thy  life  portrayed  ; 
What  streams  of  blessing  to  thy  race 

Through  thee  their  channels  made. 

Endowed  with  courage,  brave  and  strong, 

With  wisdom  for  the  chase ; 
A  leader  born,  from  out  the  wrong 

To  lead  thy  suffering  race. 

A  herald  preacher,  true  as  steel, 

In  gospel  ways  to  lead, 
Thy  life  was  given  for  the  weal 

Of  all  who  chose  to  heed. 

Great  chieftain,  may  thy  blessed  life 

Thy  cherished  people  move, 
To  shun  the  world's  ignoble  strife 

And  emulate  thy  love. 

Rest,  gentle  friend,  may  thy  sweet  rest 

And  heavenly  joy  abide, 
And  may  thy  gracious  memory  blest 

Be  cherished  far  and  wide. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

LIVING    LINKS 

"  INDIAN  NEVER  FORGETS."  In  the  early  part  of  the 
last  century  there  was  born  among  the  blue  hills  of  Penn 
sylvania,  at  Lehigh  Gap,  where  the  picturesque  Lehigh 
River  cuts  through  the  mountains  on  its  way  to  the  Dela 
ware  at  Easton,  a  full-blooded  Delaware  child  who  after 
ward  became  a  noted  sachem  of  the  Delaware  Nation. 
This  was  Gelelemend,  or  Kelelemend,  as  the  name  is 
variously  spelled.  He  afterward  took  the  name  of  Kil- 
buck.  A  writer  in  the  "  Youth's  Companion,"  of  April 
20,  1893,  gives  the  following  incidents  as  vouched  for  by 
living  descendants  of  the  principal  actors.  In  1755,  in 
Braddock's  expedition  to  attack  the  French  and  Indians 
at  Fort  Pitt  (Pittsburg),  Colonel  William  Henry,  of 
Lancaster,  Pennsylvania,  was  attached  to  Washington's 
brigade  of  Colonial  troops.  Henry  was  a  manufacturer 
of  firearms  at  Lancaster,  and  was  regarded  as  a  valuable 
acquisition  to  the  force  because  of  his  expert  knowledge. 
The  Delawares  at  this  time  had  espoused  the  French 
cause,  hoping  to  regain  lands  which  they  accused  the 
British  of  having  sequestered.  In  the  battle  in  which 
occurred  Braddock's  defeat,  Kelelemend,  or  Kilbuck, 
who  was  leading  a  force  of  the  Delawares,  had  become 
separated  from  his  band  and  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 

89 


90  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

English,  and  they  were  about  to  dispatch  him.  He  was 
already  badly  wounded,  when  Colonel  Henry  interposed, 
and  by  heroic  efforts  and  appeals  saved  his  life.  After 
the  battle  was  over  Kilbuck  called  Henry  to  his  side, 
and  grasping  his  hand,  said :  "  You  saved  my  life,"  and  then 
added,  "  Indian  never  forgets."  The  two  separated  and 
never  met  again.  Kilbuck  was  released  and  retired  with 
his  little  band  to  Gnadenhiitten,  in  Ohio.  Following  a 
custom  of  the  Indians  in  conferring  marked  distinction 
upon  a  benefactor,  Kilbuck  took  to  himself  the  name  of 
Henry,  and  called  himself  William  Henry  Kilbuck. 
Nineteen  years  after,  in  1774,  Kilbuck  visited  his  old 
home  to  gaze  once  more  upon  his  native  hills.  When  he 
reached  Lancaster  and  inquired  for  Colonel  Henry,  he 
found  him  absent,  but  his  son,  William  Henry,  Jr.,  met 
Kilbuck,  who  made  himself  known,  and  related,  with  the 
strongest  expressions  of  gratitude,  the  story  of  his  rescue. 
Twenty-three  years  later,  in  1797,  the  younger  Henry 
was  appointed,  by  the  newly  formed  government  of  the 
United  States,  on  a  commission  to  survey  public  lands  in 
Ohio,  in  the  vicinity  of  Gnadenhiitten.  When  the  In 
dians  heard  that  Henry  was  of  the  party,  Kilbuck's  de 
scendants  sought  him  out,  and  for  the  three  months  spent 
in  the  woods,  gave  the  most  marked  attention,  bringing 
game  and  otherwise  supplying  the  wants  of  the  survey 
ing  party.  It  was  ascertained  at  this  time  that  every 
member  of  the  Kilbuck  family,  male  and  female,  had 
"Henry"  as  a  middle  name.  The  Indian  had  not  for 
gotten.  In  1799  a  party  of  thirty  Delawares,  on  their 


LIVING   LINKS  .  91 

way  to  the  seat  of  government  to  seek  redress  for  some 
grievances,  stopped  at  Lancaster  to  pay  their  respects  to 
the  Henry  family.  The  heroic  act  of  Colonel  Henry  in 
saving  the  life  of  the  elder  Kilbuck  in  1755  had  become 
a  cherished  story — a  sacred  and  household  memory,  never 
to  be  forgotten. 

After  another  interval  of  seventy-four  years,  in  1873,  a 
young,  full-blooded  Delaware  Indian,  named  John  Henry 
Kilbuck,  was  sent  from  Kansas  to  enter  a  Moravian 
school  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  great-grandson  of  the 
sachem  of  our  story,  and  was  stepson  of  Chief  Journey- 
cake's  brother.  After  his  graduation,  John  Henry  Kil: 
buck  entered  the  Moravian  missionary  service,  and  is,  at 
last  accounts,  doing  heroic  work  among  the  Indians  of 
Alaska. 

The  following  confirmatory  facts  concerning  the  reli 
gious  life  of  the  Kelelemends,  or  Kilbucks,  are  taken 
from  the  "Sunday  School  Times,"  of  March  25,  1893. 

Speaking  of  the  Kelelemend  who  nearly  lost  his  life 
in  1755,  the  writer  says : 

It  is  not  quite  clear  whether  this  was  the  Kelelemend 
born  in  1737,  or  his  father,  but  at  all  events  the  Kelele 
mend  born  in  1737  rendered  the  American  forces  most 
valuable  services  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  He  early 
came  under  the  influence  of  the  Moravian  apostle  to  the 
Indians,  Zeisberger,  which  circumstance  affected  his'whole 
career.  .  .  This  Kelelemend  was  an  American  patriot 
in  every  sense  of  the  word,  using  his  personal  prowess  and 
his  influence  for  the  benefit  of  the  colonies,  and  later  for 
the  benefit  of  the  infant  United  States  struggling  for 
independence.  He  became  the  head  of  the  Delaware 


92  THE   INDIAN   CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

Nation  in  1778,  and  under  the  influence  of  the  mission 
aries  did  everything  in  his  power  to  keep  the  Indians 
neutral,  and  especially  to  keep  them  from  joining  the 
British  ;  and  when,  finally,  the  majority  of  the  Delawares, 
in  1779,  yielded  to  the  persuasions  of  the  British  Indians, 
Kelelemend  laid  down  his  chieftainship  and  came  out 
boldly  on  the  American  side.  After  the  war  Kelele 
mend  came  out  with  equal  boldness  on  the  side  of  Christ 
and  became  a  soldier  of  the  cross.  In  1794  he  was  urged 
to  resume  the  chieftaincy ;  but  he  had  a  new  chief  him 
self  now  and  therefore  declined  and  gave  himself  up  to 
religious  work  for  his  people.  Surely  it  is  a  touching 
sight  to  see  this  quondam  warrior  of  the  forest,  tamed  by 
the  Spirit  of  Christ,  preaching  the  ways  of  righteousness 
to  his  dusky  kinsmen. 

Just  fifty  years  after  his  death,  May  15,  1861,  his 
great-grandson,  John  Henry  Kilbuck  was  born.  After 
his  graduation  from  the  theological  seminary  in  1884, 
"  He  served  for  one  year  as  missionary  on  the  Indian  mis 
sion  in  Canada,"  when  "  the  call  to  begin  a  mission  among 
the  Alaskan  Eskimos  came  to  the  Moravian  Church. 
At  that  time  there  were  no  Protestant  missions  among 
these  degraded  people.  The  field  chosen  was  absolutely 
separated  from  all  civilization."  "  The  Eskimos  are  filthy, 
debased,  and  sunken  beyond  all  description."  "  Kilbuck 
heard  the  call  and  volunteered  "  to  go  among  them.  "  In 
accordance  with  the  policy  of  the  Moravian  Mission 
Board,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  be  married."  "  By  the 
most  evident  overruling  of  Providence,  he  found  his  wife 
in  the  person  of  the  daughter  of  the  missionary  who  had 
baptized  him  years  before.  .  .  Edith  Komig,  daughter  of 
the  Moravian  missionary,  the  Kev.  Joseph  Romig,  accom- 


LIVING    LINKS  93 

parried  Kilbuck  to  Alaska  as  his  wife,  and  there  she  has 
done  heroic  service  that  can  scarcely  be  equaled  in  the 
annals  of  female  missionaries."  "  With  a  classmate  and 
his  wife  he  landed  in  Northwestern  Alaska  on  June  19, 
1885,  and  they  began  their  herculean  task." 

His  classmate  soon  broke  down  and  had  to  leave  the 
rigors  of  that  terrible  climate.  But  Kilbuck  and  his 
wife  remained  at  their  post,  and  what  they  have  suffered 
can  never  be  told.  "  Arduous  journeys  for  hundreds  of 
miles  up  and  down  the  river  and  across  the  country  in 
the  dead  of  winter,  at  continuous  risk  of  life,  were  under 
taken  ;  personal  contact  with  the  filthy  savages  was  not 
shunned ;  their  reeking  huts  were  entered ;  nothing  was 
left  undone  out  of  fear  or  from  personal  repugnance." 
More  than  once  Kilbuck  "  was  given  up  for  lost,  and  once, 
after  an  absence  of  seventy-three  days  in  raging  storms, 
with  the  mercury  registering  fifty-nine  degrees  below 
zero,  he  was  mourned  as  dead.  But  the  Lord  brought 
him  back  to  his  heroic  wife,  who,  even  in  this  dire  hour, 
resolved  to  stick  by  the  mission."  "  And  thus  the  work 
went  on.  At  last,  as  soon  as  he  began  to  be  able  to  stam 
mer  forth  the  gospel  message  in  that  uncouth  language  of 
the  North,  the  fruits  of  such  noble  labors  began  to  be 
gathered  in.  An  awakening  among  the  stolid  natives 
took  place ;  and,  their  suspicions  overcome,  they  came  to 
the  missionary,  desiring  to  have  '  a  share  in  the  blood  of 
Jesus  to  take  away  their  bad.'  .  .  The  little  mission  sta 
tion  ,(&th<3lj/  it  is  said,"  now  numbers  twenty-six  natives  in 
full  communicant  membership,  besides  many  adherents, 


94  THE   INDIAN   CHIEF,  JOUENEYCAKE 

and  has  a  widespread  influence,  reaching  two  or  three  hun 
dred  miles  up  and  down  the  river  and  across  the  country, 
and  has  sent  out  several  native  helpers — all  this  largely 
as  the  result  of  the  labors  of  this  Indian  apostle  to  the 
Alaskan  Eskimos  and  his  noble  wife.  Where  now  is  he 
who  will  venture  to  say  the  civilization  and  Christianiza- 
tion  of  the  Indian  is  a  hopeless  task  in  the  face  of  this 
story  of  the  Kelelemends,  or  the  Indian  heroes  of  the 
sword  and  of  the  cross." 

The  relevancy  of  the  preceding  to  this  memorial  of 
the  last  of  the  Delaware  chiefs  will  be  easily  seen.  Let 
it  not  be  forgotten,  especially  by  the  remnant  of  the 
noble  Delaware  race,  that  this  heroic  missionary,  John 
Henry  Kilbuck,  is  one  of  their  own  race  and  blood. 

There  are  still  other  living  links  in  the  chain  of  his 
toric  events  that  connect  these  remnants  of  an  interesting 
race  with  past  history  in  a  way  to  make  them  worthy  of 
a  record  here.  The  following  is  a  Delaware  reminiscence 
worth  preserving,  of  Black  Beaver,  the  honest  interpreter  : 

When,  in  1828,  the  Delawares  were  on  their  way  to 
enter  the  reservation  near  Leaven  worth,  Kansas,  there 
were  a  few  of  their  leading  men  who  were  not  satisfied 
with  the  prospective  location.  Black  Beaver,  the  son  of 
a  chief,  and  perhaps  two  or  three  others,  separated  from 
the  tribe  and  sought  more  desirable  hunting  grounds 
away  to  the  southwest,  on  the  plains  of  what  is  now 
Southern  Oklahoma,  stopping  in  what  is  now  known  as 
the  Wichita  country.  There  they  lived  and  prospered 
until  the  Civil  War  broke  out  in  1861.  In  the  mean- 


LIVING    LINKS  95 

time  Black  Beaver  had  visited  the  Delaware  settlement 
in  Kansas,  and  on  one  of  these  visits  was  converted  and 
became  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church.  Most  of  the 
Indians  in  that  latitude  became  involved  on  the  South 
ern  side  at  the  opening  of  the  war.  Beaver  fled  and 
took  refuge  with  his  Delaware  friends  in  Kansas,  thus 
losing  his  valuable  property  in  the  Southwest.  After 
the  war,  being  known  as  a  faithful  and  valuable  inter 
preter,  an  agent  of  the  United  States  government  in  that 
quarter  induced  him  to  return  to  the  Wichita  country, 
and  there  he  lived  and  died.  At  his  request  a  missionary 
was  sent  to  that  region,  and  what  has  since  been  known 
as  the  Wichita  Mission  was  established.  Some  of  Black 
Beaver's  family  are,  I  believe,  members  of  the  Baptist 
church  at  that  mission  yet,  and  there  are  some  seventy- 
five  Delawares  in  that  settlement  in  Oklahoma. 

The  following  incident  illustrating  the  stalwart  integrity 
of  Black  Beaver  was  related  to  the  writer  by  Rev.  J.  S. 
Murrow,  D.  D.  It  was  in  the  earlier  days  of  his  settlement, 
that  he  was,  on  a  certain  occasion,  interpreting  for  some 
one  who  was  talking  to  the  Indians  about  the  wonderful 
things  seen  at  Washington  and  elsewhere  in  the  States. 
The  speaker  was  describing  the  way  of  sending  commu 
nications  by  telegraph;  how  that  the  Great  Father  at 
Washington  could  send  a  talk  to  any  one  in  New  Or 
leans  and  get  a  reply  in  a  few  minutes ;  having  made 
his  statement,  he  waited  for  the  interpreter  to  repeat  it  in 
the  Indian  tongue.  But  Black  Beaver  stood  silent. 
Surprised,  and  thinking  he  had  not  understood  it,  the 


96      THE  INDIAN  CHIEF,  JOUKNEYCAKE 

speaker  repeated  the  statement  with  distinctness,  but  still 
the  interpreter  uttered  not  a  word.  "  Why  do  you  not 
tell  that  to  your  people  ?  "  inquired  the  speaker.  Draw 
ing  himself  up,  Beaver  said,  with  emphasis,  "  I  have  never 
told  my  people  a  lie  yet,  and  I  am  not  going  to  do  it 
now.  And  that's  a  lie."  It  was  something  so  new  and 
unthinkable  to  him  that  he  could  not  believe  it,  and  he 
would  not  repeat  it  to  his  people. 

The  following  incident,  also  related  by  Dr.  Murrow, 
who  knew  the  principal  actor  well,  though  not  a  Dela 
ware  reminiscence,  is  worthy  of  a  record  here :  A  few 
years  ago  there  died  in  the  Choctaw  Nation,  in  the  In 
dian  Territory,  a  Choctaw  Baptist  minister,  Peter  Folsom 
by  name,  who  had  for  many  years  been  known  as  a 
zealous  and  very  devoted  minister  of  the  gospel.  It  is 
related  of  him  that  early  in  life  he  was  sent  to  a  school 
in  Kentucky  and  educated.  In  the  annals  of  our  Baptist 
Home  Mission  work  we  find  that  in  1826  there  was  in 
Scott  County,  Kentucky,  an  "  academy  for  the  education 
of  the  Indians,  principally  for  the  Choctaws,"  and  that 
"  under  the  charge  of  Rev.  Thomas  Henderson  it  continued 
in  a  prosperous  condition  for  several  years,  reporting 'an 
attendance  of  ninety-eight  in  1828,  when  twenty-six  con 
versions  among  the  pupils  were  also  reported."  This  is 
presumably  the  school  which  Peter  Folsom  attended,  and 
he  was  probably  one  of  the  converts  referred  to.  At  all 
events  he  was  converted  while  away  at  school ;  but  on  his 
return  to  his  people,  being  the  only  Christian  among 
them,  he  did  not  have  the  courage  of  his  convictions,  and 


LIVING   LINKS  97 

kept  the  fact  concealed.  He  would  silently  cherish  his 
new-found  faith,  but  would  not  .subject  himself  to  the  re 
proach  of  a  public  acknowledgment  of  it.  So  matters 
went  on  for  a  time,  but  he  did  not  feel  at  all  comfortable. 
Finally,  he  was  journeying  with  an  uncle  who  was  a 
head  man,  and  several  others,  going  to  attend  a  council 
of  their  people.  One  night,  as  they  were  sitting  around 
their  camp-fire,  Peter,  who  did  not  feel  in  a  sociable 
mood,  wrapped  his  blanket  around  him,  and  laying  down 
before  the  fire,  was  supposed  to  be  asleep.  His  uncle,  in 
course  of  the  talk  of  the  evening,  referred  to  the  Christian 
religion  of  which  they  had  been  hearing  a  good  deal  of 
late.  He  said  he  had  given  it  a  good  deal  of  thought ; 
had  been  upon  the  point  of  embracing  the  Christian  faith. 
"  But,'  he  said,  "  I  have  concluded  that  it  is  all  a  sham. 
There  is  my  nephew,"  pointing  to  the  prostrate  figure  be 
fore  the  fire,  "  he  professed  to  become  a  Christian  while 
away  at  school ;  but  he  has  come  back  among  his  own 
people,  and  he  has  not  said  a  word  to  any  of  us  about  the 
new  religion.  He  has  not  sought  to  lead  any  one  else  to 
accept  it,  and  I  have  made  up  my  mind  there  is  nothing 
in  it."  Peter  was  not  asleep.  He  had  heard  this  arraign 
ment  of  his  new-found  faith  charged  to  his  own  unfaith 
fulness,  and  it  was  more  than  he  could  endure,  for  he  did 
love  Christ,  though  he  had  not  had  the  courage  to  acknowl 
edge  it  before  his  people.  Springing  up  from  the  ground 
and  throwing  his  blanket  from  his  shoulders,  he  acknowl 
edged  his  delinquency  then  and  there,  and  made  such  a 
plea  for  the  religion  he  had  dishonored,  that  his  uncle 

G 


98  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

and  some  others  of  the  company  were  soon  afterward 
converted,  and  he  himself  became  from  that  time  a  zeal 
ous  and  successful  preacher  of  the  gospel  he  had  sought 
to  hide  under  a  bushel.  How  many  a  white  Christian 
has  made  the  same  mistake ! 


CHAPTER  XVII 

PRESENT    NEEDS   OF   THE   INDIANS 

CAN  the  Indian  be  evangelized?  Is  he  capable  of 
Christian  civilization  ?  Is  the  only  good  Indian  a  dead 
Indian  ?  What  is  his  ultimate  destiny  ?  What  are  the 
chief  elements  in  the  problem  of  his  destiny?  These 
and  similar  questions  demand  at  least  a  word  in  the 
closing  chapter  of  this  little  volume.  Without  attempting 
a  definite  answer  to  a  single  one  of  the  above  questions, 
we  desire  to  group  a  few  suggestions  along  the  general 
lines  indicated.  No  one  with  a  philanthropic  heart  can 
study  the  present  conditions  of  the  Indian  problem  with 
out  having  anxious  thoughts  for  our  red  brothers. 

Never,  perhaps,  in  the  history  of  these  people  was  it  so 
imperative  that  what  can  be  done  for  them  be  done 
wisely  and  promptly.  We  confine  our  observations  to 
the  Indian  Territory  and  Oklahoma  and  adjacent  reser 
vations  of  the  Southwest,  where  a  large  proportion  of 
them  are  within  easy  reach  of  efforts  to  improve  them. 

Looking  first  at  what  are  called  the  wild  tribes — the 
blanket  Indians — the  Indians  of  the  plains,  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  realize  how  absolutely  the  conditions  of 
sustenance  and  even  of  existence  for  these  have  changed 
within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  or  a  little  over. 
Thirty  years  ago  these  tribes  of  the  plains,  a  good  many 

99 


100          THE   INDIAN   CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

thousands  strong  in  the  aggregate,  could  go  out  at  the 
proper  season  and  kill  enough  buffalo,  dress  the  hides 
and  dry  the  meat,  to  furnish  an  ample  supply  of  food  for 
the  entire  year.  Then,  indeed,  they  were  the  terror  of 
the  settlers,  not  to  say  of  the  soldiers  who  were  necessary 
to  keep  them  in  check.  Now  all  this  is  changed.  The 
buffalo  are  gone,  and  with  them  other  wild  game  are 
rapidly  vanishing,  and  the  old  forms  of  existence  by  the 
chase  and  in  the  camp  are  gone  forever.  These  Indians 
of  the  plains  must  either  be  brought  to  derive  their  sus 
tenance  from  the  soil  and  by  other  industries,  or  they 
must  be  sustained  by  the  government  as  paupers,  or  on 
the  other  hand  they  must  perish;  and  they  are  rapidly 
coming  to  realize  these  facts.  About  eighteen  or  twenty 
years  ago,  at  a  military  post  at  what  is  called  the  Canton 
ment,  in  Oklahoma,  a  chief  came  to  the  commander  of 
the  fort  one  day,  begging  for  vengeance  against  a 
member  of  his  band  who  had  committed  a  grievous  crime 
against  his  family.  The  military  commander  claimed 
that  there  was  no  law  giving  him  authority  to  interfere. 
If  it  had  been  a  white  villain,  he  said,  who  had  commit 
ted  the  crime,  he  could  arrest  and  punish  him,  but  for  the 
offense  of  one  Indian  against  another,  he  had  no  right  to 
interfere.  "  But,"  said  he,  "  have  you  no  remedy  among 
yourselves  for  a  case  like  this?"  "Yes,"  said  the  chief, 
"  I  could  kill  him,  and  I  ought  to  kill  him  ;  but  the  agent 
is  not  my  friend.  He  would  put  me  in  the  guardhouse, 
and  there  would  be  no  protector  for  my  family,"  Then, 
placing  his  hand  upon  the  officer's  arm,  bowed  down  with 


PRESENT    NEEDS    OF    THE    INDIANS  101 

grief  and  trembling  with  emotion  in  every  fibre  of  his 
frame,  he  said,  "  I  am  sick  and  tired  of  the  Indian's 
road.  It  is  no  good."  Then  looking  upward  as  if  in 
earnest  supplication,  he  said,  "  Oh,  that  the  good  God 
would  lead  us  into  the  white  man's  road  before  we  are 
all  destroyed ! " 

This  incident  was  related  by  the  officer  who  had  spent 
more  than  thirty  years  among  these  Indians  of  the  plains, 
and  who  professed  great  friendship  for  them,  but  who  did 
not  seem  to  recognize  Christianity  as  an  important  factor 
in  their  improvement.  Not  so,  however,  some  of  these 
Indians  themselves.  They  not  only  desire  to  be  led  into 
the  white  man's  road,  but  it  is  the  light  of  the  gospel 
shining  along  this  road  that  attracts  them  and  that  they 
long  for.  And  the  changed  conditions  of  existence  with 
them  make  it  imperative  that  what  can  be  done  for  them 
along  this  line  be  done  speedily,  for  they  will  inevitably 
perish  without  it. 

The  question  of  evangelization  and  Christian  education 
of  the  Indians  is  greatly  modified  in  these  days  by  certain 
other  changes  of  condition  worthy  of  note.  We  have 
seen  in  the  history  of  the  Delawares  how  again  and  again 
they  were  assured  by  the  government  of  the  peaceable 
possession  of  territory  assigned  them,  to  be  guaranteed  to 
them  in  perpetuity,  and  how  they  at  times  showed  pro 
gress  toward  civilization,  even  a  century  ago.  But  again 
and  again  disappointment  overtook  them ;  their  lands 
were  wanted  for  white  settlers,  their  camps  were  broken 
up,  and  they  had  to  begin  anew  in  the  untamed  wilder- 


102  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

ness.  Just  so  has  it  been  with  all  the  tribes,  and  just,  so 
with  attempts  to  evangelize  and  educate  the  Indians. 
There  was  no  abiding  place.  A  mission  might  be  started, 
a  school  planted,  some  notable  conversions  of  Indians 
occur,  and  encouraging  progress  started,  and  then  the 
lands  whereon  this  was  seen  were  wanted  for  white  settlers, 
and  all  must  be  sacrificed,  schools  broken  up,  missions 
scattered,  camps  removed,  and  all  permanent  progress  ar 
rested.  There  was  no  opportunity  for  the  institutions  of 
a  Christian  civilization  to  strike  their  roots  into  the  soil 
and  obtain  a  permanent  growth. 

In  some  sense  all  this  has  changed,  especially  in  the 
Southwest.  When,  about  1832,  the  Indian  Territory  was 
set  apart  to  be  the  home  of  the  Indians,  and  the  five 
civilized  nations  were  induced  to  accept  the  guarantee  of 
permanent  possession  of  lands  set  apart  to  them,  for  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  this  country  missionary  work 
among  the  Indians  had  an  open  field  with  some  promise 
that  the  seed  sown  might  have  opportunity  to  spring  up 
and  receive  culture  and  mature  fruitage.  Though  the 
work  was  interrupted  by  the  war  of  1861  to  1865,  and 
put  back  by  its  devastation  for  at  least  twenty  years,  yet 
the  results  show  how  beneficent  such  work  among  the 
Indians  would  be  could  these  favorable  conditions  for 
permanency  continue.  But  alas !  another  change  seems 
now' pending.  The  influx  of  white  settlers  is  becoming  so 
great  into  the  Territory  that  the  continued  existence  of 
these  Indian  commonwealths  is  seriously  threatened. 
What  is  done  for  their  evangelization  must  be  done 


PRESENT    NEEDS    OF   THE    INDIANS  103 

speedily  or  the  vices  of  white  civilization  will  overwhelm 
them  with  ruin.  On  the  one  hand  it  has  been  demon 
strated  that  the  Indians  are  capable  of  evangelization  and 
uplifting,  and  on  the  other  that  the  dangers  of  their 
present  situation  are  very  grave.  Would  that  the  pres 
ent  little  volume  might  be  used  in  some  small  measure  at 
least  toward  the  repairing  of  the  injuries  of  the  past,  and 
the  realization  of  the  possibilities  of  the  present  for  those 
to  whom  this  country  owes  so  much,  and  for  whom  most 
of  us  have  done  so  little. 

With  a  few  words  on  the  subject  of  Indian  education 
this  monograph  must  close.  It  was  an  omen  of  immeas 
urable  good  when  some  twenty  years  ago  our  government 
conceived  the  idea  of  substituting  the  school  for  the 
sword,  and  the  book  for  bullets,  in  connection  with 
the  Indian.  In  the  founding  of  what  are  called  non- 
reservation  schools  for  the  industrial  and  literary  training 
of  the  youth  of  the  various  wild  tribes,  and  in  the  success 
which  has  attended  the  opening  and  conduct  of  such  in 
stitutions  as  that  at  Carlisle,  Pa.,  at  Lawrence,  Kansas, 
and  some  twenty  others  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
a  new  era  of  hope  has  dawned  for  the  Indian  people.  By 
the  success  of  these  schools,  and  the  advance  made  by 
many  of  the  Indian  pupils,  the  problem  of  the  Indian's 
capability  of  receiving  an  education  has  been  solved. 
The  answer  to  the  question,  Can  he  be  educated?  is  a 
most  emphatic  affirmative.  The  transformation  wrought 
by  a  four  or  five  years' course  has  been  phenomenal. 

The  extent  of  this  work  of  education  by  the  govern- 


104  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

ment  is  probably  understood  by  but  few  of  our  people. 
As  much  as  two  years  ago  it  was  claimed  by  those  who 
had  given  the  matter  careful  study,  that  of  the  thirty 
thousand  Indian  children  that  ought  to  be  gathered  into 
these  schools,  not  less  than  twenty  thousand  had  been  in 
structed  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period  of  time.  This 
estimate  refers  to  the  non-reservation  schools,  supported 
wholly  by  the  government  for  the  benefit  of  the  so-called 
blanket  Indians.  These  schools  make  no  provision  for 
the  children  of  the  civilized  tribes.  This  explanation  is 
necessary  to  an  understanding  of  the  merits  and  mistakes 
of  the  non-reservation  system  of  schools  for  the  Indian 
children.  The  peculiar  phase  of  the  system  is  indicated 
by  the  name  non-reservation  schools.  It  seems  to  be 
based  upon  the  idea  that  to  successfully  educate  the 
Indian  for  civilization  you  must  separate  him  from  his 
natural  surroundings,  and  from  the  influence  of  his  tribe, 
and  even  of  his  own  family  connections,  and  keep  him  re 
moved  until  he  has  in  a  measure  forgotten  the  old  life, 
and  taken  on  the  new. 

On  the  one  side  this  theory  would  seem  to  be  justified 
by  the  results  up  to  the  time  of  leaving  school,  in  many 
instances.  But  there  is  another  side  to  the  question. 
What  of  these  educated  Indian  youth  when  they  have 
finished  their  school  course  ?  It  has  been  frequently  said 
of  late,  "  It  is  not  worth  while  to  spend  money  to  educate 
the  Indian,  for  when  he  has  gone  through  the  school  he 
goes  back  to  his  old  life,  and  in  a  little  while  has  donned 
his  blanket  and  forgotten  his  civilized  ways."  Doubtless 


PRESENT    NEEDS    OF    THE    INDIANS  105 

there  is  a  measure  of  truth  in  this  assertion  ;  but  it  is  only 
a  half-truth.  Here  appears  what  seems  to  the  present 
writer  the  mistake  of  the  non-reservation  idea  in  the  loca 
tion  of  these  schools.  The  youth  thus  educated  away 
from  their  tribe,  educated  out  of  sympathy  with  their 
kin,  removed  rather  from  the  sympathies  of  their  people, 
when  they  leave  school  and  go  back  to  their  homes — the 
natural  thing  for  them  to  do — are  ostracised  and  per 
secuted  so  that  they  are  compelled  to  either  conform,  at 
least  outwardly,  to  the  old  life  or  leave.  But  the  Indian 
is  loyal  to  his  clan  and  kin,  and  besides  it  may  not  be 
easy  to  get  employment  or  means  of  support  if  he  is  driven 
away. 

An  incident  will  illustrate.  Two  or  three  years  ago  a 
correspondent  of  one  of  our  journals  was  visiting  the 
camp  of  one  of  the  blanket  tribes  of  the  Southwest.  En 
gaging  in  conversation  with  some  one  in  the  English 
tongue  he  noticed  a  young  Indian  near  by — in  blanket, 
and  in  appearance  like  the  other  Indians  of  the  camp — 
who  seemed  to  be  interested  in  the  conversation.  Finally 
the  young  Indian  approached  and  joined  in  the  con 
versation,  speaking  in  good  English,  and  with  an  intelli 
gence  that  so  surprised  the  correspondent  that  he  in 
quired  of  his  friend  who  the  young  man  was.  He  found 
that  he  was  an  educated  young  man,  had  spent  several 
years  at  Carlisle,  Pa.,  and  was  well  informed  and  a  good 
scholar.  Surprised  and  disappointed  at  such  a  result,  he 
sought  an  interview,  and  remonstrated  with  him.  He 
said  he  should  be  ashamed,  with  his  knowledge  and 


106  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

ability  to  be  living  as  he  was,  the  old  semi-savage  life. 
"  Well/'  said  the  young  Indian,  "  I  am  ashamed,  but 
what  could  I  do?"  and  then  he  told  him  how  it  was. 
"  When  I  came  back  from  Carlisle,  bringing  my  civilized 
ideas,  and  wearing  the  garb  of  civilization,  my  people 
would  have  nothing  to  do  with  me.  They  treated  me  as 
an  alien,  and  finally  one  day  twenty  or  thirty  of  these 
men  came  around  me  bringing  this  blanket  and  this 
Indian  outfit,  and  they  said  I  must  take  off  those  white 
man's  clothes,  and  give  up  the  white  men's  ways,  or  I 
must  leave."  The  Indian  is  loyal  to  his  tribe  or  band. 
It  would  be  a  great  hardship  to  be  driven  from  them. 
And  then,  where  should  he  go  ?  It  is  not  easy  to  get  em 
ployment  in  these  times ;  so  he  had  yielded  to  the  com 
pulsion  and  was  living,  to  outward  appearance,  the  old 
barbarous  life ;  but  as  his  interest  in  the  conversation  of 
his  white  brothers  showed,  only  in  appearance. 

The  remedy,  it  seems  to  me,  for  this  difficulty  would  be 
to  locate  our  schools  as  near  the  people  to  be  benefited  as 
possible,  so  that  while  the  children  are  being  educated 
they  will  have  an  uplifting  influence  on  their  parents  and 
other  members  of  the  tribe  by  frequent  intercourse. 
This  is  the  principle  on  which  our  mission  schools  are 
planted,  and  the  demand  for  increased  effort  along  that 
line  is  enhanced  many  times  by  the  manifest  results  they 
produce.  Furthermore,  the  benefits  of  a  school  of  learn 
ing  to  any  community  are  not  confined  to  the  work  done 
in  its  halls,  nor  to  the  individuals  who  receive  instruction 
in  its  classes.  There  is  what  we  may  call  the  school 


PRESENT    NEEDS    OF    THE    INDIANS  107 

atmosphere  which  pervades  its  surroundings  far  beyond 
its  immediate  precincts,  and  is  in  some  measure  felt 
wherever  its  work  is  known.  This  outside  influence  of 
the  school  life  is  needed  especially  by  the  tribes  that  are 
just  emerging  into  the  light  of  civilization. 

As  these  last  lines  are  written  (1894),  a  bill  has  just 
been  introduced  in  Congress  which,  if  it  should  become  a 
law,  will  have  a  vital  effect  upon  the  most  advanced  of  our 
Indians,  the  five  civilized  tribes,  for  either  good  or  evil. 
It  is  the  bill  to  erect  the  territory  of  these  five  tribes  into 
a  Territory  of  the  United  States,  and  to  compel  the 
abolishment  of  the  tribal  governments  and  force  the 
Indians  to  become  citizens  of  the  United  States.  We  are 
not  prepared  to  express  an  opinion  here  as  to  whether  the 
Indians  will  be  benefited  by  this  movement  or  not,  nor  to 
enter  into  any  discussion  of  this  very  complex  question. 
But  we  cannot  avoid  the  sad  reflection  that  we  are 
afforded,  by  the  conditions  that  are  claimed  to  make  such 
a  step  necessary,  a  crowning  evidence  of  the  disappoint 
ments  to  which  the  Indians  have  ever  been  doomed  in 
their  efforts  to  solve  the  problem  of  their  own  elevation, 
and  in  the  guarantees  offered  by  the  United  States  of  the 
conditions  under  which  they  were  allowed  to  make  the 
effort.  It  was  thought  that  at  last  in  this  Indian  Ter 
ritory  these  tribes  referred  to  had  a  reliable  assurance 
that  they  would  have  undisturbed  possession  of  the  cir 
cumscribed  lands  given  them  for  a  permanent  possession, 
and  that  here  the  institutions  of  a  Christian  civilization, 
adopted  by  them,  would  have  opportunity  to  strike  their 


108  THE    INDIAN    CHIEF,  JOURNEYCAKE 

roots  into  the  soil,  and  grow  up  to  a  permanent  condition 
of  success.  But  alas  !  the  persistent  encroachments  of  the 
white  man  upon  their  domain  seem  to  have  made  neces 
sary  another  change ;  not  indeed  the  removal  to  another 
country,  for  there  is  no  place  left  for  another  experiment, 
but  an  absorption  into  the  conditions  of  civilization,  or 
total  extinction. 

It  may  be  as  claimed,  that  the  conditions  of  fulfilling 
the  government's  solemn  pledges  to  the  Indian  are  no 
longer  possible ;  but  the  question  will  force  itself  upon  us, 
"  By  whose  fault  have  they  been  rendered  impossible  of 
fulfillment  ?  Moreover  the  apparent  impossibility  of  ful 
filling  these  pledges  cannot  eradicate  the  sense  of  injury 
from  the  hearts  of  those  whose  rights  have  been  thus 
ruthlessly  trampled  upon.  Keally  the  only  remedy  for 
the  present  condition  of  things  is  the  evangelization  of 
these  red  sons  of  the  forest,  and  the  consequent  bestow- 
ment  upon  them  of  a  Christian  civilization.  This  is  the 
imperative  duty  of  our  people  and  its  earnest  assumption 
can  take  place  none  too  soon.  If  in  any  wise  this  book 
shall  aid  to  bring  this  about,  one  purpose  of  the  author 
will  have  been  served. 


THE    END 


